Engagement of Parents with the Aurora Child Health Chatbot: A Conversation Log Analysis Study

Liebetrau, Diana and Densmore, Melissa and Nunes, Francisco (2025) Engagement of Parents with the Aurora Child Health Chatbot: A Conversation Log Analysis Study, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 1-14, Taylor & Francis.

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Abstract

Chatbots have the potential to support child health by answering parents doubts and providing tailored information. However, prior work has not studied the deployment of chatbots for this setting. We analysed how parents used the Aurora Facebook Messenger chatbot, designed for Portuguese parents, with an optional subscription to professional support. Our analysis investigated chatbot use, discussed topics, and conversation topics, drawing on user engagement and conversation metrics, text-mining, user satisfaction scores, and conversation content analysis. Results revealed 718 active users (out of 1043), with peak activity during lunchtime and late at night. Most queries pertained to critical situations, including infant sleep (80%), (breast)feeding (13%), or healthcare-related issues (7%). Aurora handled in-domain questions appropriately, but struggled to answer multi-topic queries. Subscription users had 243% more interactions and 162% more extended use of the chatbot. Our research underscores the importance of offering timely and personalised messaging to meet parents’ needs.

Item Type: Journal article (paginated)
Uncontrolled Keywords: chatbot log analysis, parenting, user engagement
Subjects: Human-centered computing > Human computer interaction (HCI)
Human-centered computing > Human computer interaction (HCI) > HCI design and evaluation methods > User studies
Applied computing > Life and medical sciences > Health informatics
Alternate Locations: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10447318.2025.2492805
Date Deposited: 17 Oct 2025 06:22
Last Modified: 17 Oct 2025 06:22
URI: https://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/id/eprint/1764

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