Clinical trial · Interventional
An Oncology Nurse AI Agent to Reduce Cancer Distress During Radiotherapy
An Oncology Nurse Artificial Intelligence Agent to Reduce Cancer Distress of Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Mixed-Methods Randomized Controlled Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the effectiveness of the Digi-Coach chatbot for reducing physical and psychological distress in people undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. The main question it aims to answer is: How effective is the Digi-Coach chatbot in reducing physical and psychological distress? Researchers will compare Digi-Coach chatbot to usual nursing care to see if Digi-Coach chatbot is effective for reducing physical and psychological distress in people undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Participants will have access to the Digi-Coach chatbot during radiotherapy in addition to usual care. The research nurse will provide training on how to navigate the chatbot and ask participants to query all their cancer-related concerns in the chatbot.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head and Neck Cancer | Malignant Head and Neck Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digi-Coach Chatbot | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- NO_INTERVENTION
- label
- Treatment-As-Usual Arm
- description
- Participants in the Treatment-As-Usual group will receive routine onsite nursing care in which the nurse discusses general knowledge of self-care behaviors regarding the management of radiotherapy-related side effects.
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Digi-Coach Chatbot Arm
- description
- Participants in Digi-Coach Chatbot Arm will have access to the Digi-Coach chatbot in addition to usual care. The research nurse will provide training on how to use the chatbot.
- interventionNames
- Other: Digi-Coach Chatbot
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer
- timeFrame
- 1 week, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * aged 18 and above * are able to read and speak Cantonese or Mandarin fluently * have a new, primary diagnosis of head and neck/laryngeal cancer * are waiting to receive a full course of curative-intent, external beam radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy * have a Karnofsky performance score ≥70 * have distress scored 3 or above on the NCCN distress thermometer Exclusion Criteria: * insufficient command of Chinese * have any other factors precluding the ability to give informed consent or comply with the protocol
References
Publications (0)
Data not yet available