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Published on: August 1, 2019
Reaching women through health information technology: the Gabby preconception care system
Paula Gardiner1, Megan B Hempstead, Lazlo Ring
1Department of Family Medicine, Boston Medical Center, 1 BMC Place, Boston, MA 02118, USA. paula.gardiner@bmc.org
Purpose:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have endorsed the concept of preconception care (PCC). New tools must be developed to promote PCC.
Design:
Development and testing of a health information technology system to provide PCC.
Setting:
An urban safety net hospital and an urban university.
Subjects:
Community recruitment of 31 women in focus groups and 15 women participating in observed usability testing; 9 students recruited from the Office of Minority Health Preconception Peer Educators program participated in pilot testing for 2 months.
Intervention:
Online interactive animated character ("Gabby") designed to identify and modify preconception risks.
Measures:
Qualitative transcripts, preconception risk assessment, server data for system usage, self-administered satisfaction surveys, and follow-up phone calls.
Analysis:
Descriptive statistics of subjects' demographics, satisfaction, PCC risks, and system usage. Transcripts coded using NVIVO.
Results:
Subjects (n = 24) reported an average of 23 preconception risks; in the pilot, 83% of risks added to the "My Health To-Do List" were addressed by the subject. Seventy-three percent of risks identified as contemplative progressed to action or maintenance. Differences were noted in effectiveness of the system based on initial stage of change for each risk.
Conclusion:
Results suggest that the PCC system could be effective in influencing positive behavior change. Adding stage of change-focused functionality might have added benefits. This system has great potential to assist in the delivery of PCC.
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