Background: The number of people with diabetes is on the rise globally. Self-management and health education of patients are the keys to control diabetes. With the development of digital therapies and artificial intelligence, chatbots have the potential to provide health-related information and improve accessibility and effectiveness in the field of patient self-management. Objective: This study systematically reviews the current research status and effectiveness of chatbots in the field of diabetes self-management to support the development of diabetes chatbots. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of chatbots that can help patients with diabetes with self-management was conducted. PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched using keywords around diabetes, chatbots, conversational agents, virtual assistants, and more. The search period was from the date of creation of the databases to January 1, 2023. Research articles in English that fit the study topic were selected, and articles that did not fit the study topic or were not available in full text were excluded. Results: In total, 25 studies were included in the review. In terms of study type, all articles could be classified as systematic design studies (n=8, 32%), pilot studies (n=8, 32%), and intervention studies (n=9, 36%). Many articles adopted a nonrandomized controlled trial design in intervention studies (n=6, 24%), and there was only 1 (4%) randomized controlled trial. In terms of research strategy, all articles can be divided into quantitative studies (n=10, 40%), mixed studies (n=6, 24%), and qualitative studies (n=1, 4%). The evaluation criteria for chatbot effectiveness can be divided into technical performance evaluation, user experience evaluation, and user health evaluation. Most chatbots (n=17, 68%) provided education and management focused on patient diet, exercise, glucose monitoring, medications, and complications, and only a few studies (n=2, 8%) provided education on mental health. The meta-analysis found that the chatbot intervention was effective in lowering blood glucose (mean difference 0.30, 95% CI 0.04-0.55; P=.02) and had no significant effect in reducing weight (mean difference 1.41, 95% CI –2.29 to 5.11; P=.46) compared with the baseline. Conclusions: Chatbots have potential for the development of self-management for people with diabetes. However, the evidence level of current research is low, and higher level research (such as randomized controlled trials) is needed to strengthen the evidence base. More use of mixed research in the research strategy is needed to fully use the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative research. Appropriate and innovative theoretical frameworks should be used in the research to provide theoretical support for the study. In addition, researchers should focus on the personalized and user-friendly interactive features of chatbots, as well as improvements in study design.

To investigate the prevalence of subthreshold depression among Chinese college students and to explore the related factors. The research subjects were Chinese college students participating in the "2022 Psychology and Behavior Investigation of Chinese Residents (PBICR-2022)". Data on respondents' general characteristics, quality of life, perceived pressure, family communication, perceived social support, self-efficacy, and depression status were gathered. To investigate the association between each variable and the risk of subthreshold depression, statistical analyses, including chi-square tests and rank sum tests were conducted. Furthermore, a binary stepwise logistic regression was employed to establish the regression model of the factors related to subthreshold depression among Chinese college students. A prevalence of subthreshold depression of about 39.7 % was found among the 8934 respondents. Logistic regression analysis revealed that respondents who are female, have chronic diseases, are in debt, experience significant impacts from epidemic control policies, have lower self-assessed quality of life, experience challenges in family communication, perceive lower social support, have lower self-efficacy, and feel higher perceived pressure are more likely to develop subthreshold depression compared to the control group. (P < 0.05). The prevalence rate of subthreshold depression among Chinese college students was found to be approximately 40 %. Female college students suffering from chronic diseases, with households in debt, greatly impacted by epidemic control policies, and experiencing high perceived stress, may be at risk for subthreshold depression among Chinese college students. On the other hand, strong family communication, perceived social support, and self-efficacy were identified as potential protective factors. In order to facilitate timely screening, diagnosis, and treatment of subthreshold depression in Chinese college students, it is crucial for the government, local communities, colleges, and families to prioritize the mental health of college students and implement targeted measures accordingly.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the differences in public vaccination preference for the COVID-19 vaccine with different personality characteristics. Methods: Based on the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-10), a total of 1200 respondents were categorized by personality characteristics using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). The preference of members the public with different personality characteristics for COVID-19 vaccination was investigated based on a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Results: All respondents were divided into three groups, named the General and Stable type (79.67%), Conscientious and Agreeable type (9.5%), and Open and Extroverted type (10.83%). For the percentage importance of vaccine attributes, both the General and Stable type and Conscientious and Agreeable type respondents considered cost to be the most important (41.93% and 34.95% respectively). However, the Open and Extroverted type respondents considered efficacy as the most important (31.05%). In our conditional logit model (CLOGIT), for vaccine adverse effects, the General and Stable type and Conscientious and Agreeable type respondents preferred “very mild”, while the Open and Extroverted type preferred “mild” (OR:1.108, 95%CI 0.977–1.256). The Open and Extroverted type had a higher willingness to pay (WTP) for the most preferred vaccine level compared to the other types. Conclusions: The Open and Extroverted respondents have the highest willingness to vaccinate. The General and Stable type and Conscientious and Agreeable respondents think that the cost of the vaccine is the most important attribute, and prefer the mildest side effects. The Open and Extroverted type think that vaccine efficacy is the most important attribute, prefer “mild” side effects, and have higher willingness to pay for their favorite vaccine level.

Background: Self-medication has become a common phenomenon. Economic factors are important factors that affect the self-medication of residents. This study aimed to investigate the current status of self-medication behaviors in China and explored the related factors affecting considerations associated with medical insurance reimbursement or drug price in self-medication. Methods: A national cross-sectional investigation was conducted among Chinese people over 18 years old under a multi-stage sampling method through a questionnaire, which includes demographic sociological characteristics, self-medication behaviors and scales. The Chi-square test was used to analyze whether the respondents consider medical insurance reimbursement or drug price as an important factor when purchasing over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Logistic regression was used to examine the associated factors of considering medical insurance reimbursement or drug price. Results: In total, 9256 respondents were included in this study; 37.52% of the respondents regarded drug prices as an important consideration, and 28.53% of the respondents attached great importance to medical insurance reimbursement. Elderly respondents who lived in the central region, had medical insurance, and had lower levels of health literacy were more likely to consider the medical insurance reimbursement, while respondents with high monthly family income as well as students were less likely to consider the same issue (p < 0.05). Respondents settled in the central and western regions, students, those without fixed occupations, those who suffered from chronic diseases, or those with lower health literacy were more likely to consider drug prices, while the respondents with bachelor degrees, urban population and high per capita monthly income were less likely to consider the drug prices (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Self-medication behaviors with OTC drugs were prevalent in China, and consideration factors of medical insurance reimbursement or drug prices were related to socio-demographic characteristics and health literacy. There is a need to take measures to reduce the economic burden of self-medication, improve the health literacy of residents and strengthen public health education.

Objectives. To measure the distributed characteristics of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) constitutions, as well as related factors with biased TCM constitutions among the elderly individuals in Macau. Methods. The elderly individuals from elderly healthcare centers located in Macao Peninsula, Taipa, and Coloane were selected as research samples. The basic information questionnaire and the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) for elderly were employed. Descriptive analysis was applied to illustrate demographical characteristics and TCM constitution distribution. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to explore potential factors influencing biased constitutions, and weight of each variable for constitution was further calculated. Results. A total of 313 participants were recruited. Eighty-six (27.48) elderly were identified as balanced constitution; others were biased constitutions accounting for 72.52. Distribution differences related to gender and age were identified among participants with unbalanced constitutions. Four biased constitutions were further analyzed with EFA. For qi-stagnation and yang-deficiency constitutions, three similar factors were determined in the domains of education, sleeping habits, and lifestyle behaviors, successively. Although four factors were identified in phlegm-dampness constitution, the latter two belonged to lifestyle behaviors and the former two were education and sleeping habits. For yin-deficiency constitution, education, tobacco-alcohol consumption, sleeping habits, and exercise were four dimensions of potential influential factors. Tobacco consumption, sleep, and exercise duration weighted the most for qi-stagnation constitution; sleep duration, education level, and sugar-containing beverage intake for phlegm-dampness; length of education, alcohol consumption, and education level for yang-deficiency constitution; and weekly exercise hours, sleep duration, and education level for yin-deficiency constitution. Conclusion. The prevalence rate of biased constitutions was relatively high among elderly residents in Macau. Relations between demographical and lifestyle behavioral factors and biased constitutions were identified in this study. Controlling these influential factors might be beneficial for health management of Macau elderly individuals.

The direct impact of smartphones on health risk behaviors of adolescent students has been verified. However, the mediating mechanisms that underly this relationship remain largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of the study is to explore the role of family health in mediating the relationship between the frequency of smartphone use and adolescent students’ health risk behaviors. A questionnaire was used to collect cross-sectional data from 693 adolescent students aged 12–18 in China and a structural equation model was analyzed. Among the nine health risk behaviors, the most frequent health risk behaviors in Chinese adolescent students were non-compliance walking behaviors (M=Mean; SD = Standard deviation) (M ± SD) (2.78 ± 1.747), eating unhygienic food (M ± SD) (2.23 ± 1.299), being subjected to physical violence (M ± SD) (2.19 ± 0.645), and leaving home (M ± SD) (2.13 ± 0.557). The SEM results showed that the adolescent students’ smartphone use had a positive impact on delaying the age of first alcohol consumption (β = 0.167, CI:0.067 0.287) and a negative impact on the non-compliance walking behaviors (β = 0.176, CI:0.011 0.266). Family health plays an indirect-only mediated role (the proportions of indirect-only mediated roles are 11.2%, 12.4%, and 11.5%) in the relationship between smartphone use and adolescent students’ partial health risk behaviors: (CI: −0.042 −0.002), (CI: −0.049 −0.005), and (CI: −0.043 −0.002). These findings provided a theoretical and practical basis for better interventions in adolescent health risk behaviors.