Enhancing Oral Cancer Awareness

May 7, 2026 updated by: Virginia Commonwealth University

Comparative Study on Enhancing Oral Cancer Awareness: Classical Educational Materials vs. AI-Powered Chatbot

To evaluate the impact of AI-powered chatbot interactions versus traditional educational handouts on increasing participants' knowledge of oral cancer and its prevention

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study evaluates the difference in outcome of two distinct interventions aimed at enhancing oral cancer awareness and prevention among participants from African American communities in the Richmond area. Participants assigned to the first intervention arm will receive traditional educational handouts sourced from trustworthy and reliable health sources such as the CDC, American Cancer Association (ACA), and other health education resources. These handouts will be provided to the participants and provided enough time to read them based on calculated reading time, focusing on increasing awareness of oral cancer risks, preventive strategies, and the importance of regular dental check-ups. Participants assigned to the second intervention arm will engage with an AI-powered chatbot designed specifically for oral cancer education. The chatbot interaction will be initiated through a provided link, allowing participants to access information and ask questions related to oral health and cancer prevention. The chatbot is programmed to provide accurate information on oral cancer risks, symptoms, preventive measures, and the importance of regular dental check-ups

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Virginia
      • Richmond, Virginia, United States, 23298
        • Recruiting
        • Virginia Commonwealth University
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Tamas Gal, Ph.D

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Identify as African American as defined by the US Census
  • Participants must be able to read, speak, and write in English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals who cannot physically or mentally participate in the research project will be excluded
  • Adults unable to consent
  • Individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers)
  • Prisoners

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Traditional Educational Materials
Receiving oral cancer educational materials (handouts from trusted sources such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and American Cancer Association (ACA) and other reliable health education resources.
Behavioral: Traditional Education
Participants will receive traditional educational handouts focusing on increasing awareness of oral cancer risks, preventive strategies, and the importance of regular dental check-ups. Participants will be provided time to read the handouts based on calculated reading time.
Experimental: Engaging with an AI-powered Chatbot
AI-powered chatbox designed specifically for oral cancer education. The chatbot is programmed to provide accurate information on oral cancer risks, symptoms, preventive measures, and the importance of regular dental check-ups.
Behavioral: AI-powered Chatbox
The chatbot interaction will be initiated through a provided link, allowing participants to access information and ask questions related to oral health and cancer prevention. The chatbot is programmed to provide accurate information on oral cancer risks, symptoms, preventive measures, and the importance of regular dental check-ups. Participants will be encouraged to interact with the chatbot for a specified duration

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Compare participant retention rates between the AI-powered tool arm and the conventional educational material arm
Time Frame: Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)
Compare the percentage of participants that continued the intervention to the participants that continued using the active comparator to measure intervention feasibility.
Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)
Evaluate the impact of AI-powered chatbot interactions versus traditional educational handouts on knowledge and behavior
Time Frame: Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)

Assess the effectiveness of the interventions by baseline and post intervention surveys assessing oral cancer knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors utilizing a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model.

The questionnaire will include scales measuring knowledge about oral cancer, its causes, risk factors, signs, preventive methods. Each question will have one correct answer, and the final score at baseline and after the intervention will be compared. Based on previous literature, a score of 60-70% can indicate adequate knowledge about a disease, but the primary goal of the outcome is to compare improvement in knowledge between control vs intervention arms.
Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)
Investigate socio-demographic factors that affect oral cancer knowledge in the African American population
Time Frame: Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)

Pre-intervention surveys will include questions assessing socio-demographic variables of the participants. These variables will serve as covariates in the analysis to measure their effects on knowledge and attitudes.

The effect of demographic factors affecting healthcare service utilization, such as education attainment and health insurance status, on knowledge about and attitude toward oral cancer will be measured through regression analysis to investigate their impact on oral cancer awareness and prevention efforts.
Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)
Evaluate the acceptability of AI-powered chatbot interactions versus traditional educational handouts
Time Frame: Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)

Assess the acceptability of the interventions by baseline and post intervention surveys assessing satisfaction, appropriateness, ease of use, and acceptability of the interventions to improve oral cancer knowledge.

Satisfaction and acceptability will be measured through a set of questions in the post-intervention questionnaire with 5 Likert scale-based responses ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree", and the final score will be compared between arms.
Baseline, and post intervention (3 months)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Virginia Commonwealth University

Collaborators

American Association for Cancer Education

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Tamas Gal, Ph.D, Virginia Commonwealth University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 24, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 29, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 7, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

November 12, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 8, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MCC-24-21890
  • HM20030494 (Other Identifier: Virginia Commonwealth University)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Participant survey data dictionary and individual participant responses will be shared upon request. Requests will be submitted to the PI (Tamas Gal, PhD) through email (Tamas.Gal@vcuhealth.org)

IPD Sharing Time Frame

7/1/2025 - 6/30/2030

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data will be shared upon request. Requests will be submitted to the PI (Tamas Gal, PhD) through email (Tamas.Gal@vcuhealth.org)

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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