Empowering Veterans in Research Effectively Using Virtual Engagement Tools

Overview

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among Veterans. Clinical trials are essential for developing better treatments, but Veterans remain underrepresented in these studies due to barriers including limited health literacy, lack of awareness, and mistrust. Current outreach approaches rely on either in-person physician conversations, which are limited by workforce constraints, or mailed letter invitations, which often fail to engage Veterans with limited health literacy. This study tests whether AI-generated video avatars can improve Veteran engagement in cardiovascular clinical trials.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence now enable the creation of personalized video avatars at negligible cost and time. These computer-generated videos can be rapidly adapted to describe any clinical trial and tailored to individual patient preferences in both speaker appearance and content. The EVERYVET Study (Empowering VEterans in Research effectivelY using Virtual Engagement Tools) will evaluate whether these AI-supported tools can increase Veteran engagement in cardiovascular clinical trials compared to standard mailed letter invitations. The avatar invitations will be randomly embedded into outgoing invitations for existing VA clinical studies. Veterans will be able to choose their preferred avatar speaker from a diverse set of computer-generated avatars and self-select the content topics most important to them. The study is co-designed with the Veterans and Family Research Engagement Council (VFREC) and a Veteran Co-Investigator to ensure the approach centers Veteran priorities and preferences throughout.