Healthcare Voice AI Assistants: Factors Influencing Trust and Intention to Use
Xiao Zhan, Noura Abdi, William Seymour, Jose Such
TL;DR
This paper investigates what drives trust and adoption of Healthcare Voice AI Assistants (HVAs). Using a 300-participant survey and partial least squares structural equation modeling, the authors identify key predictors of trust, notably functional factors (perceived usefulness, content credibility, relative service quality) and security/privacy risks, along with stance in technology, that collectively explain trust (R^2 ≈ 0.84). Trust in HVAs, in turn, positively influences intention to use HVAs, with a moderate explained variance (R^2 ≈ 0.54). The study offers domain-specific insights—such as the primacy of usefulness and credibility in HVAs, and the importance of privacy and security design—along with practical guidance for participatory design, privacy governance, and organization-level trust to advance adoption in healthcare contexts.
Abstract
AI assistants such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, are making their way into the healthcare sector, offering a convenient way for users to access different healthcare services. Trust is a vital factor in the uptake of healthcare services, but the factors affecting trust in voice assistants used for healthcare are under-explored and this specialist domain introduces additional requirements. This study explores the effects of different functional, personal, and risk factors on trust in and adoption of healthcare voice AI assistants (HVAs), generating a partial least squares structural model from a survey of 300 voice assistant users. Our results indicate that trust in HVAs can be significantly explained by functional factors (usefulness, content credibility, quality of service relative to a healthcare professional), together with security, and privacy risks and personal stance in technology. We also discuss differences in terms of trust between HVAs and general-purpose voice assistants as well as implications that are unique to HVAs.