AI Chatbot for Prostate Radiation Therapy Patient Education
Clinical Evaluation of Large Language Model (LLM) Methods to Support Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Patient Education
This study will evaluate whether an artificial intelligence chatbot can help patients better understand radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer. Participants will be adults with prostate cancer who are planning definitive radiation therapy at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
All participants will receive standard radiation therapy education and clinician-led discussions as part of routine care. In addition, participants will interact with an educational chatbot about prostate cancer radiation therapy. The chatbot is designed to provide plain-language information about treatment logistics, preparation, possible side effects, follow-up, and when to contact the care team. The chatbot will not provide diagnosis, treatment recommendations, individualized medical advice, or replace conversations with clinicians.
Participants will complete questionnaires before and after using the chatbot. The study will measure changes in patient understanding, confidence in managing symptoms, usability of the chatbot, and safety-related concerns identified during clinician review of chatbot responses.
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Study Type
Enrollment (Estimated)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 18 years or older
- Current diagnosis of prostate cancer
- Planning to receive definitive prostate cancer radiation therapy at Brigham and Women's Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology
- English-speaking
- Ability to understand and willingness to provide informed consent
Exclusion Criteria:
- Adults unable to consent independently
- Individuals who are not yet adults
- Prisoners
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
- Allocation: N/A
- Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: AI Chatbot Educational Intervention
Participants will complete baseline questionnaires, interact with the LLM-based prostate radiation education chatbot, and then complete post-intervention questionnaires.
The chatbot is used in addition to standard radiation therapy education and clinician-led discussions.
|
Participants will interact with an LLM-based educational chatbot focused on prostate cancer radiation therapy. The chatbot provides plain-language information about treatment logistics, preparation, expected follow-up, possible urinary, bowel, sexual, and hormonal side effects, symptom monitoring, and when to contact the care team. The chatbot is used as an adjunct to standard radiation therapy education and clinician-led discussions. The chatbot is based on ChatGPT 5.2 deployed within a secure Mass General Brigham Azure environment and configured with physician-reviewed educational source materials and safety guardrails. It is designed to provide educational information only and does not diagnose, recommend treatment choices, provide individualized medical advice, or alter clinical management. Participant interactions will not be used to train, fine-tune, or update the underlying foundation model. |
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in PROMIS Self-Efficacy for Managing Symptoms Score
Time Frame: Baseline before chatbot interaction to immediately after chatbot interaction during the same study session
|
Within-participant change in symptom self-efficacy will be measured using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Self-Efficacy for Managing Symptoms instrument.
Scores are reported as PROMIS T-scores, with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 in the reference population.
Higher scores indicate greater confidence in managing symptoms, which is a better outcome.
There is no fixed minimum or maximum T-score, although typical PROMIS T-scores generally range from approximately 20 to 80.
|
Baseline before chatbot interaction to immediately after chatbot interaction during the same study session
|
Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Estimated)
Primary Completion (Estimated)
Study Completion (Estimated)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Actual)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Other Study ID Numbers
- 26-198
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
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.