Developing Healthcare Chatbot: Migrant Workers' Study With Design Implication

Abstract

Migrant workers are often those with low income who are subject to a high risk of virus transmission due to environmental and occupational exposures. The COVID-19 pandemic is reported to exacerbate the existing vulnerabilities of these marginalized groups. This study aims to shed light on how the potential of a conversational agent (Chatbot) could help improve migrant workers' health information seeking and health literacy. The exploration extended to the existing barriers to seeking health information strategies to obtain the needed information during COVID-19. This study conducted an exploratory qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with a scenario-based approach to study the experiences of the migrant Thai low-income workers in Taiwan. A total of 12 Thai stakeholders and migrant workers participated in the study. Migrant Thai workers developed distinct health information behaviors and improved various types of health competencies amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the critical barriers to health literacy remain. As a result, this work found that the Chatbot posted several potential features that could improve health literacy on Access. Therefore, Apprise and Apply depend on the understanding, which can be enhanced if the understanding rate increases. This study addresses the need for the development of the potential of a conversational agent. The findings of this study would guide the authority and technological interventions to respond to migrant workers' health information needs with appropriate tools.