A one-stop health shop: exploring different conversational styles for behaviour change via multiple digital coaches

Embodied Conversational Agents have been used to persuade users to change their intention to do healthy behaviours. This study explores users perceptions of a virtual one stop health shop where the user can talk to multiple health coaches (dietician, exercise and cognition) in the same session and the impact on user’s behaviour change intention to do the recommended behaviours.. Each coach varies in human-like empathy expressed during conversation through the inclusion (empathic) or exclusion (neutral) or mix of four types of relational cues: empowerment, working alliance, affirmation and social dialogues. In our between/within- subjects study, 284 participants experienced all three coaches and dialogue styles but in different combinations and orders. Multiple coaches were considered convenient, informative and helpful. Empathic coaches increased intentions to do physical and diet behaviours, whereas the neutral cognitive coach was most effective in encouraging change. This shows empathic dialogue is not always the most persuasive.