Published evaluations

Research on
virtual-human practice

Four Xuron-authored evaluations examine how virtual-human practice is used in healthcare education. Read the findings alongside the methods and participants behind them.

Published in
the Almanac

4 published evaluations

A woman practices a Xuron virtual-patient conversation on an iPad. — Xuron virtual-patient practice

Published evaluationJanuary 2026

Motivational interviewing for obesity care.

Some conversations moved quickly into instructions. Explaining lifestyle benefits scored lower than creating a plan.

clinicians: 16
sessions: 18

Question, methods & limits

The question
What do assessments and conversations show about motivational interviewing practice?

The approach
An early evaluation of clinicians practicing motivational interviewing with Charlotte, a virtual patient. The evaluation compared knowledge responses and self-reported comfort before and after the combined activity, alongside scores from the simulated encounter.

How to read the findings
There was no control group. Automated scores need further validation, and the evaluation did not examine lasting skills or patient outcomes.

Read the publication Explore the case study Consider this in your program

The participants and measures differ across evaluations; each publication explains how to interpret its results.

What would you need to see before using this more widely?

Discuss an evaluation

Read all four published evaluations:

Motivational interviewing for obesity care. (January 2026) The evaluation compared knowledge responses and self-reported comfort before and after the combined activity, alongside scores from the simulated encounter. There was no control group. Automated scores need further validation, and the evaluation did not examine lasting skills or patient outcomes.
Healthcare communication across 11 activities. (November 2025) The evaluation examined the first completed session in each activity, including teaching, practice, and assessment. Because teaching and simulation were evaluated together, the findings cannot show how much of the learning change came from simulation alone.
Telehealth communication training. (May 2025) Communication was assessed from the transcripts of learners’ simulated conversations. AI scores were not independently checked by human evaluators.
Palliative and hospice communication. (April 2025) Clinicians reviewed prerecorded demonstrations for realism and usefulness. Participants did not undertake live practice.