“I don’t see anything specifically about Black/African Americans.” Testing an Alzheimer-specific generative AI tool tailored for African American/Black communities

Abstract

Low levels of health literacy concerning Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD) impact African American/Black communities access to appropriate ADRD care. Additionally, a legacy of mistrust in medical research due to systemic racism, has resulted in insufficient participation in ADRD clinical trials among African American/Black adults. This study explores the potential of generative AI to improve ADRD literacy and encourage participation in clinical trials among African American/Black older adults. We designed a mobile health intervention featuring AI-driven conversational agents - a chatbot and a voice assistant - specifically developed for this population. We tested the quality of the intervention using heuristics methodology adapted to the target population along with inputs from African American/ Black medical professionals and UX designers. Key findings highlight the unique needs of the African American/Black communities for culturally relevant content that is accessible to users with varying language levels and tailored to users’ geographical location. Concerning the interaction, high levels of personalization and control over the interaction can promote the use of the tool, by minimizing complexity and maximizing accessibility. These findings show the novel contribution offered by our study in the domain of designing health technology with generative AI, particularly LLMS, for African American/Black communities.

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