Trial reportBMC public health2022
Can chatbots help to motivate smoking cessation? A study on the effectiveness of motivational interviewing on engagement and therapeutic alliance.
Trial report in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Effectiveness of Digital Interventions to Increase Preventive Care Uptake in Older Adults: Systematic Review.JMIR aging · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Communication Competence in AI Conversational Agents for Health: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Does the Digital Therapeutic Alliance Exist? Integrative Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and Acceptability of Conversational Agents for Smoking Cessation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of a Theory- and Evidence-Based, Motivational Interviewing-Oriented Artificial Intelligence Digital Assistant on Vaccine Attitudes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Impact of Computer-Mediated Versus Face-to-Face Motivational-Type Interviews on Participants' Language and Subsequent Cannabis Use: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Fine-Tuning Large Language Models for Motivational Interviewing in Health Behavior Change: Development and Evaluation Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence Discontinuation Effects (AI-DICE): An Emerging Phenomenon in Mental Health Applications.JMIR AI · 2026Article
- Use of the Dynamic Systems Development Method to Inform Technology-Assisted Motivational Interviewing (TAMI) for Tobacco Cessation: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Evaluation of an Artificial Intelligence Conversational Chatbot to Enhance HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis Uptake: Development and Usability Internal Testing.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Validating the working alliance inventory in a mobile health smoking cessation program: A quasi-experimental study among Mexican adults who smoke.Tobacco induced diseases · 2026Article
- AI-Enabled Personalized Smoking Cessation Intervention With the Aipaca Chatbot: Mixed Methods Feasibility Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Observational
- ChatGPT-Based Chatbot for Help Quitting Smoking via Text Messaging: An Interventional Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- New Doc on the Block: Scoping Review of AI Systems Delivering Motivational Interviewing for Health Behavior Change.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Chatting your way to quitting: A longitudinal exploration of smokers' interaction with a cessation chatbot.Internet interventions · 2025Article
- The role of chatbots and virtual assistants in enhancing tobacco cessation counselling.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Review
- Learning & motivational talk in smoking cessation interventions: An examination of session language in two randomized trials.Patient education and counseling · 2025Article
- Psychometric properties of an adapted working alliance scale among Latinos.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Promoting mental health in the age of new digital tools: balancing challenges and opportunities of social media, chatbots, and wearables.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Review
- The role of nurses in smoking cessation interventions for patients: a scoping review.BMC nursing · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCigarette smoking poses a major threat to public health. While cessation support provided by healthcare professionals is effective, its use remains low. Chatbots have the potential to serve as a useful addition. The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of using a motivational interviewing style chatbot to enhance engagement, therapeutic alliance, and perceived empathy in the context of smoking cessation.
methodsA preregistered web-based experiment was conducted in which smokers (n = 153) were randomly assigned to either the motivational interviewing (MI)-style chatbot condition (n = 78) or the neutral chatbot condition (n = 75) and interacted with the chatbot in two sessions. In the assessment session, typical intake questions in smoking cessation interventions were administered by the chatbot, such as smoking history, nicotine dependence level, and intention to quit. In the feedback session, the chatbot provided personalized normative feedback and discussed with participants potential reasons to quit. Engagement with the chatbot, therapeutic alliance, and perceived empathy were the primary outcomes and were assessed after both sessions. Secondary outcomes were motivation to quit and perceived communication competence and were assessed after the two sessions.
resultsNo significant effects of the experimental manipulation (MI-style or neutral chatbot) were found on engagement, therapeutic alliance, or perceived empathy. A significant increase in therapeutic alliance over two sessions emerged in both conditions, with participants reporting significantly increased motivation to quit. The chatbot was perceived as highly competent, and communication competence was positively associated with engagement, therapeutic alliance, and perceived empathy.
conclusionThe results of this preregistered study suggest that talking with a chatbot about smoking cessation can help to motivate smokers to quit and that the effect of conversation has the potential to build up over time. We did not find support for an extra motivating effect of the MI-style chatbot, for which we discuss possible reasons. These findings highlight the promise of using chatbots to motivate smoking cessation. Implications for future research are discussed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.