A Persuasive Chatbot in an Aging-in-Place Environment

With the increase of the senior citizen population worldwide, there is a growing need to create a technology-enabled environment that support older adults in living independently. This paper presents the development of a persuasive chatbot integrated with an aging in place solution, designed to assist senior citizens in leading healthy lifestyles. By utilizing a computational model of adaptive persuasion, the chatbot can effectively encourage users to engage in suitable exercises based on their health conditions and behavioral data collected from the aging in place system. Various persuasion strategies are available, tailored to the user’s motivation and personal profile. A pilot study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the chatbot in promoting exercise adherence and explore its usability. The study results demonstrate the chatbot’s effectiveness in persuading the majority of participants to follow the recommended exercise routines, and overall user satisfaction with the chatbot’s usage.