A Sociolinguistic-enabled Web Application to Develop Precision Health Intervention for African Americans

This pilot study will explore the preliminary efficacy of a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening intervention delivered by Virtual Human Agents (VHAs). Seven hundred fifty participants aged 45 to 75 will be recruited through Qualtrics panels. The study examines how different levels of dialectal linguistic features willingness to be screened for colorectal cancer. Participants will be randomly assigned to interact with one of four VHA conditions: a VHA using non-dialectal linguistic features, a VHA with a low level of dialectal linguistic features integrated, a VHA with a high level of dialectal linguistic features integrated, or a text-only control condition. Following the interaction, participants will complete survey measures to assess perceived willingness to be screened.