The Role of Conversational Agents for Substance Use Disorder in Social Distancing Contexts

Zhaoyuan Su; John A Schneider; Sean D Young

doi:10.1080/10826084.2021.1949609

The Role of Conversational Agents for Substance Use Disorder in Social Distancing Contexts

Subst Use Misuse. 2021;56(11):1732-1735. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2021.1949609. Epub 2021 Jul 21.

Authors

Zhaoyuan Su¹, John A Schneider², Sean D Young³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
² Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
³ Departments of Emergency Medicine and Informatics, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.

PMID: 34286669
DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2021.1949609

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related policies, such as social distancing orders, are affecting the ability for people with substance use disorders (SUD) to seek prevention and treatment. In this commentary, we introduce conversational agents, a type of social technology. We discuss the role of conversational agents in the prevention and treatment of SUD in social distancing contexts and the potential benefits and limitations of designing and implementing such technology in the prevention and care for patients with SUD.

Keywords: Conversational agent; addiction; public health; substance use.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Pandemics
Physical Distancing
SARS-CoV-2
Substance-Related Disorders* / epidemiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding