Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2021 Apr;12(2):300-308. doi: 10.1017/S2040174420000264. Epub 2020 Apr 20.
A preconception Virtual Patient Advocate (VPA) called "Gabby" supported African-American women to decrease their preconception health risks and may be a scalable resource to increase women's access to preconception care. Aims were to assess the acceptability of a preconception VPA in women living in Australia and document the changes required to adapt Gabby to suit an Australian context. Taking a descriptive qualitative approach, nonpregnant female participants (n = 31), aged 18-45 years, living in metropolitan and regional Victoria, Australia interacted with Gabby. Focus groups (n = 7) that gathered participants' perspectives of their experience with Gabby ran in July-August 2019 before being transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Six interrelated themes and 12 subthemes were identified. Participants found VPAs to be an acceptable provider of health information with potential to increase women's access preconception health advice. Gabby was considered to be trustworthy and was able to develop rapport with participants in a relatively short time. Context-specific, relevant, tailored and trustworthy information and advice were considered more important that Gabby's physical appearance. Participants had strong opinions about potential technological advancements (e.g., reminders and rewards) and addressing navigation issues to increase Gabby's acceptability. Participants envisaged that they would use Gabby for readily available and evidence-based information before seeking advice from a health professional if required. Overall, the concept VPAs to provide preconception advice and Gabby were acceptable to participants. Future development of VPAs, Gabby, and other online technology-based resources should consider women's high expectations of the online health information they choose to interact with.
一个名为“Gabby”的孕前虚拟患者代言人（VPA）旨在支持非裔美国女性降低其孕前健康风险，并且可能成为一个可扩展的资源，以增加女性获得孕前护理的机会。目的是评估一种孕前 VPA 在澳大利亚生活的女性中的可接受性，并记录为适应澳大利亚环境而对 Gabby 进行改编所需的更改。采用描述性定性方法，对年龄在 18-45 岁之间，居住在澳大利亚维多利亚州大都市区和地区的非孕妇参与者（n = 31）进行了 Gabby 互动。2019 年 7 月至 8 月期间，进行了焦点小组（n = 7），以收集参与者对他们与 Gabby 体验的看法，然后将其逐字转录并进行主题分析。确定了六个相互关联的主题和 12 个子主题。参与者认为 VPA 是提供健康信息的可接受提供者，有潜力增加女性获得孕前健康建议的机会。Gabby 被认为是值得信赖的，并且能够在相对较短的时间内与参与者建立融洽的关系。参与者认为，与 Gabby 的外表相比，上下文相关、相关、量身定制和值得信赖的信息和建议更为重要。参与者对潜在的技术进步（例如提醒和奖励）以及解决导航问题以提高 Gabby 的可接受性有强烈的意见。如果需要，参与者设想他们将在需要时使用 Gabby 来获取现成的和基于证据的信息，然后再向医疗保健专业人员寻求建议。总体而言，参与者对提供孕前建议的 VPA 和 Gabby 的概念表示接受。未来 VPA、Gabby 和其他在线基于技术的资源的开发应考虑女性对她们选择与之互动的在线健康信息的高期望。
