Natural Language Processing–Based Virtual Cofacilitator for Online Cancer Support Groups: Protocol for an Algorithm Development and Validation Study

Yvonne W Leung   ^{1, 2, 3} , PhD ;   Elise Wouterloot   ¹ , MA ;   Achini Adikari   ⁴ , BSc ;   Graeme Hirst   ⁵ , PhD ;   Daswin de Silva   ⁴ , PhD ;   Jiahui Wong   ^{1, 2} , PhD ;   Jacqueline L Bender   ^{3, 6} , PhD ;   Mathew Gancarz   ¹ , MMSc ;   David Gratzer   ^{2, 7} , MD ;   Damminda Alahakoon   ⁴ , PhD ;   Mary Jane Esplen   ² , PhD

¹ de Souza Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

² Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

³ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada

⁴ Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

⁵ Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

⁶ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

⁷ Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada