Table 6. Gender and race/ethnicity preferences among the participants (n=28).

Theme	Properties	Description	Exemplar
No preference for gender		Participants explicitly mention they do not have any gender-specific preference for the VHA/doctor	“Not in terms of the avatar, no. Like I don’t have any preference if it was… in terms of if it looks a male or a Bangladeshi-looking male or a Bangladeshi-looking female, I don’t have any preference on that end.”—P11, male, 34
No preference for race or ethnicity		Participants explicitly mention they do not have any race- or ethnicity-specific preference for the VHA/doctor	“I don’t have the problem with the looks. I’m okay, I feel good.”—P21, male, 34
Preference for South Asian/Bengali ethnicity		Participants explicitly mention a preference for a South Asian/Bengali VHA/doctor	“Not that I have the option to pick the race. And personally, it doesn’t matter to me. But definitely I know that I would be a lot more comfortable with a Bengali doctor or from the South Asian background, than American. That doesn’t matter to me if you’re White or African American, that doesn’t matter to me or Spanish. That doesn’t matter to me. But if I’m comparing between American versus Bengali, I mean, personally, I would be able to be more open minded with the Bengali doctor.”—P30, female, 52
Preference to choose VHA appearance		Participants mention a preference for the ability to choose the appearance of the VHA based on their race and gender	“Or on screen maybe in the beginning, you give them an option, have a brown doctor, have a black doctor, white doctor, different race, and then you say select your doctor.”—P23, male, 38
Gender-specific preference	❖ Preference for male VHA	Participants explicitly mention a preference for a specific gender for the VHA/doctor	“Even my husband would prefer a female doctor, for me.”—P16, female, 40
	❖ Preference for female VHA

VHA, virtual health assistant.