Care.coach Avatar™Supportive Care Intervention for Outpatient Stem Cell Transplant Patients

care.coach Avatar™ with usual supportive care. The avatar program includes companionship, HCT educational modules, relaxation and mindfulness exercises, simple (seated) physical exercises, nightly check ins, and symptom self-management as needed.

Traditional supportive care comprising of a binder with HCT educational materials and regular meetings with a transplant nurse.

care.coach Avatar™ ("avatar") is a conversational relational agent that serves as a virtual companion and appears on a tablet device as an animated pet avatar. Each avatar is supervised by a 24x7 remote team of trained human staff whose abilities are augmented by artificial intelligence (AI) and software-driven health coaching and clinical protocols for consistency, automation, and scale. This unique human-in-the-loop design enables safe, empathic, natural conversations that form the basis for trusting relations and lasting behavior change. In addition to being a companion, the avatar educates patients about their condition, helps manage symptoms, and reinforces other healthy habits. Independent studies have demonstrated improved outcomes at a reduced cost of care. A pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of care.coach Avatar™ as a psychosocial support and health coach in hospitalized HCT patients. More research is needed to assess efficacy and applications in other HCT settings.