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BACKGROUND: The world is moving fast toward digital transformation as we live in the artificial intelligence (AI) era. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerates this movement. Chatbots were used successfully to help researchers collect data for research purposes. OBJECTIVE: To implement a chatbot on the Facebook platform to establish connections with health care professionals who had subscribed to the chatbot, provide medical and pharmaceutical educational content, and collect data for online pharmacy research projects. Facebook was chosen because it has billions of daily active users, which offers a massive potential audience for research projects. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: The chatbot was successfully implemented on the Facebook platform following 3 consecutive steps. Firstly, the ChatPion script was installed on the Pharmind website to establish the chatbot system. Secondly, the PharmindBot application was developed on Facebook. Finally, the PharmindBot app was integrated with the chatbot system. PRACTICE INNOVATION: The chatbot responds automatically to public comments and sends subscribers private responses using AI. The chatbot collected quantitative and qualitative data with minimal costs. EVALUATION METHODS: The chatbot's auto-reply function was tested using a post published on a specific page on Facebook. Testers were asked to leave predefined keywords to test its functionality. The chatbot's ability to collect and save data was tested by asking testers to fill out an online survey within Facebook Messenger for quantitative data and answer predefined questions for qualitative data. RESULTS: The chatbot was tested on 1000 subscribers who interacted with it. Almost all testers (n = 990, 99%) obtained a successful private reply from the chatbot after sending a predefined keyword. Also, the chatbot replied privately to almost all public comments (n = 985, 98.5%) which helped to increase the organic reach and to establish a connection with the chatbot subscribers. No missing data were found when the chatbot was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. CONCLUSIONS: The chatbot reached thousands of health care professionals and provided them with automated responses. At a low cost, the chatbot was able to gather both qualitative and quantitative data without relying on Facebook ads to reach the intended audience. The data collection was efficient and effective. Using chatbots by pharmacy and medical researchers will help do more feasible online studies using AI to advance health care research.

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BACKGROUND: Despite the advanced development of evidence-based psychological treatment services, help-seeking persons with mental health problems often fail to receive appropriate professional help. Internet-delivered psychotherapy has thus been suggested as an efficient strategy to overcome barriers to access mental health care on a large scale. However, previous research indicated poor public acceptability as an issue for the dissemination of Internet-delivered therapies. Currently, little is known about the expectations and attitudes toward Internet-delivered therapies in the general population. This is especially the case for countries such as Germany where electronic mental health (e-mental health) treatment services are planned to be implemented in routine care. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study aimed to determine the expectations and attitudes toward Internet-based psychotherapy in the general population in Germany. Furthermore, it aimed to explore the associations between attitudes toward Internet-based therapies and perceived stress. METHODS: To assess public attitudes toward Internet-based psychotherapy, we conducted both Web-based and paper-and-pencil surveys using a self-developed 14-item questionnaire (Cronbach alpha=.89). Psychological distress was measured by employing a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the 20-item German version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). In addition, we conducted explorative factor analysis (principal axis factor analysis with promax rotation). Spearman's rank correlations were used to determine the associations between attitudes toward Internet-based therapies and perceived stress. RESULTS: Descriptive analyses revealed that most respondents (N=1558; female: 78.95%, 1230/1558) indicated being not aware of the existence of Internet-delivered therapies (83.46%, 1141/1367). The average age was 32 years (standard deviation, SD 10.9; range 16-76). Through exploratory factor analysis, we identified 3 dimensions of public attitudes toward Internet-based therapies, which we labeled "usefulness or helpfulness," "relative advantage or comparability," and "accessibility or access to health care." Analyses revealed negative views about Internet-based therapies on most domains, such as perceived helpfulness. The study findings further indicated ambivalent attitudes: Although most respondents agreed to statements on expected improvements in health care (eg, expanded access), we observed low intentions to future use of Internet-delivered therapies in case of mental health problems. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study showed deficient "e-awareness" and rather negative or ambivalent attitudes toward Internet-delivered therapies in the German-speaking general population. However, research targeting determinants of the large-scale adoption of Internet-based psychotherapy is still in its infancy. Thus, further research is required to explore the "black box" of public attitudes toward Internet-delivered therapies with representative samples, validated measures, and longitudinal survey designs.

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The Malaysian official Islamic authorities have issued a "fatwa" (Islamic ruling) regarding smoking practice which prohibits Muslims from smoking because of its potential harm to health. Since the prevalence of smoking among Malaysian students is high, this study was designed to explore the perceptions and opinions of Malaysian Muslim students towards smoking in International Islamic University of Malaysia. A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted among School of Science students in International Islamic University Malaysia. Convenience sampling approach was used to recruit 323 students based on sample size calculation. A content- and face-validated questionnaire was used to collect the data from the participants. Non-smokers highly supported the fatwa on smoking forbiddance than smokers (94 vs 64.3 %, p = 0.001). A significant proportion of non-smokers believed that Islam prohibits smoking because of its potential harm (94.9 vs 71.4 %, p = 0.001). Majority of smokers agreed that addiction is the main barrier towards smoking cessation (78.6 vs 61.5 %, p = 0.019). The results showed positive influences of Islamic beliefs on the non-smokers. Further studies are required to validate these findings by surveying other universities of Malaysia.

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