Background: Artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents have been applied and developed in outpatient departments to improve health services in China. However, there has been little research that evaluates the effect of artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents on the patient experience related to physicians during outpatient visits. Objective: This study aimed to examine whether the use of artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents improves the patient experience related to physicians during outpatient visits and to further find out the difference in the patient experience between conversational agent users and nonusers. Methods: We used the Chinese Outpatient Experience Questionnaire to survey the patient experience related to physicians during outpatient visits. A sample of 394 adult residents who sought outpatient services from tertiary public hospitals in China was selected by random sampling. The t tests were used to test the mean difference in the patient experience scores between conversational agent users and nonusers. Multiple linear regression analysis was further performed to determine whether the use of artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents during outpatient visits was associated with a better patient experience related to physicians. Results: Conversational agent users reported significantly higher scores than nonusers in the total patient experience scores (t₃₉₂=5.589, P<.001), the 19 items and 4 dimensions of physician-patient communication (t₃₉₂=5.013, P=.006), health information (t₃₉₂=5.758, P<.001), short-term outcome (t₃₉₂=4.608, P<.001) and general satisfaction (t₃₉₂=5.080, P<.001). Multiple linear regression results further showed that after controlling for other factors on participant characteristics, the use of artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents during outpatient visits significantly influenced the total patient experience scores related to physicians (B=0.298, P=.01). And the use of artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents averagely increased the total patient experience scores related to physicians during outpatient visits by 7.51% (0.298/3.97). Conclusions: The use of artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents could improve the patient experience related to physicians during outpatient visits, especially in terms of making physician-patient communication better, accessing more targeted health information, ameliorating short-term outcomes, and increasing general satisfaction. Therefore, we suggest that public hospitals should consider the benefits of the artificial intelligence-assisted conversational agents and actively deploy the conversational agents in outpatient departments so as to continuously improve the patient experience related to physicians during outpatient visits.

Background: Previous findings indicate that stress has a profound influence on suicide behavior, but the potential mediating and moderating mechanisms are unknown between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior. The present study, therefore, examined the relationship between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior, the mediating effect of depressive symptoms, and the moderating effect of family relationship in a sample of university students in China. Methods: 1828 university students were assessed anonymously by using the Uncertainty Stress Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Brief Suicidal Scale, and Family Relationship Scale between May to June in 2021. SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis. PROCESS 3.5 was used to calculate the significance of the mediating and moderating effects of the variables. Results: Moderated mediation model analyses showed that: (a) depressive symptoms partially mediated the link between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior (indirect effect = 0.14, 95%bootstrap CI = 0.10, 0.19). The indirect effect of the depressive symptoms accounted for 67.12% of the total variance in suicide behavior. (b) The indirect association between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior was moderated by family relationship. Specifically, the paths from uncertainty stress to depressive symptoms (interact effect = − 0.06, P< 0.001) and depressive symptoms to suicide behavior (interact effect = − 0.08, P< 0.01) were weakened in the context of higher family relationship. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms play a crucial role in bridging uncertainty stress and suicide behavior, while the family relationship can buffer the mediation impact of depressive symptoms. These findings significantly contribute to the prevention and intervention of suicide in Chinese university students.

Background: As healthcare demands often intensify during the final stages of life, this study examines the intricate associations between disability severity and patterns of medical service utilization in end-of-life care. Methods: The data originate from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study database (CHARLS). The activities of daily living scale and the instrumental activities of daily living scale are utilized to assess levels of functional disability. This cross-sectional study employed Poisson regression and Tobit regression to assess the influence of disability on the frequency and expense of outpatient and inpatient services utilized during the terminal phase. Results: The average scores of the activities of daily life and instrument activities of daily life were 10.83 ± 5.71 and 11.55 ± 5.88. The disability level of respondents in the end-stage of life was an important factor affecting the frequency of outpatient and inpatient medical services and inpatient service expenses, where the regression coefficients were 0.028 ( p < 0.01), 0.014 ( p < 0.05), and 1091.4 ( p < 0.01), respectively. The partial marginal utility of the disability level for increasing inpatient expenses was 433.4 ( p < 0.01). Conclusion: Severe disability levels predict an economic burden on families of respondents at the end of lives. This underscores the urgent necessity for targeted disability-focused interventions to alleviate economic burdens and ensure familial well-being.

Corrigendum for the article Familial Resilience in Crisis: Navigating the Mediating Landscape of Depressive Symptoms Between Uncertainty Stress and Suicide Behavior Among Chinese University Students