ORCID
- Robert Ross: 0000-0001-7088-273X
Abstract
For Conversational Agents (CA) to live up to their potential in supporting behaviour change for good, it is essential that high levels of appropriate conversational skills be applied in a systematic and controllable way. In light of this challenge, we present a model and study of the role of Active Listening in virtual health coaches. We detail the design and parameterization of AMOS, an LLM driven virtual health coach, and present a 45 participant within-subject evaluation of the impact of explicit Active Listening behaviour on participant attitudes toward AMOS itself and our targeted behaviour change goals. The results demonstrated that explicit Active Listening resulted in higher engagement and effectiveness in the potential for achieving health goals in comparison to an alternative focused on direct support compared to a chatbot lacking these attributes. Additionally, data on participants’ personality scores were collected to explore potential relationships between personality traits and intervention outcomes. Participant openness and conscientiousness appear to positively influence outcomes in the case of explicit Active Listening, but this effect tends to weaken—or even reverse—in the case of no explicit Active Listening.
Keywords
Active Listening, Conversational Agents, HCI, LLMs, Personality, User Behaviour Change, Virtual Health Coaching
DOI Link
Publication Date
2025-11-13
Event
2025 Human Computer Interaction Conference, BCS HCI 2025
First Page
550
Last Page
564
Deposit Date
2026-10-22
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional Links
Recommended Citation
Ghulam, H., Keegan, B., & Ross, R. (2025) 'Active Listening in Virtual Interactive Coaching: Prompt Strategies and User Assessment', Available at: 10.14236/ewic/BCSHCI2025.61