Parenting Journal · Volume 2 · Issue 5 · Licensed source edition
Development and feasibility testing of an artificially intelligent chatbot to answer immunization-related queries of caregivers in Pakistan: A mixed-methods study
Originally published 2023-11-08 · International Journal of Medical Informatics
Elsevier BV · DOI 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105288 ↗
AI / system type
Earlier intent-classification/NLP chatbot with human handoff; not generative LLM advice
Direct parenting evidenceDirectly addresses parents or caregiving, including parent studies, syntheses and audits of parenting advice.
The AI connection
Bablibot used RASA-based intent/NLP/ML processing and a curated immunization service with human oversight and registry linkage.
Why this reading matters
Gives families and services a concrete example of combining localized AI answers with accountable human help while examining who is excluded.
Editorial reading guide · Collaboration
What should a vaccination chatbot answer itself, and when should our family reach a person?
Explores a practical parent–health-service partnership: a Roman Urdu chatbot answered vaccination questions, linked to registry information, and offered human monitoring/handoff. Queries commonly concerned due dates, adverse effects, and vaccination during illness or delays. Body-level recruitment details show why the total user count cannot be treated as uptake among the center-enrolled cohort alone.
Study context
Pakistan immunization-center recruitment enrolled 2,202 caregivers; the service also reached community users, with 677 total chatbot users and 20 qualitative interviews
Age / stage: Caregivers of children 0–24 months at recruitment
Read with three questions
- How did local language, registration information, and human monitoring shape the service?
- Why do total users, center-enrolled users, message counts, and survey respondents describe different kinds of reach?
- Which outcomes beyond satisfaction would establish that caregivers received reliable, timely immunization support?
Keep the limits in view
Only a minority of center-enrolled caregivers used the bot; community promotion contributed additional users. High exit-survey satisfaction came from selected responses, and interview samples were small. Education, phone access, and digital confidence affected reach. The study did not establish improved vaccination uptake or child health through a controlled comparison.
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Danya Arif Siddiqi; Fatima Miraj; Humdiya Raza; Owais Ahmed Hussain; Mehr Munir; Vijay Kumar Dharma; Mubarak Taighoon Shah; Ali Habib; Subhash Chandir (2023). Development and feasibility testing of an artificially intelligent chatbot to answer immunization-related queries of caregivers in Pakistan: A mixed-methods study International Journal of Medical Informatics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105288
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-04. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.