UMMS Affiliation
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Center for Integrated Primary Care
Publication Date
2021-01-19
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition | Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism | Health Information Technology | Maternal and Child Health | Race and Ethnicity | Women's Health
Abstract
Importance: Healthy nutrition and appropriate supplementation during preconception have important implications for the health of the mother and newborn. The best way to deliver preconception care to address health risks related to nutrition is unknown.
Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial designed to study the impact of conversational agent technology in 13 domains of preconception care among 528 non-pregnant African American and Black women. This analysis is restricted to those 480 women who reported at least one of the ten risks related to nutrition and dietary supplement use.
Interventions: An online conversational agent, called "Gabby", assesses health risks and delivers 12 months of tailored dialogue for over 100 preconception health risks, including ten nutrition and supplement risks, using behavioral change techniques like shared decision making and motivational interviewing. The control group received a letter listing their preconception risks and encouraging them to talk to a health care provider.
Results: After 6 months, women using Gabby (a) reported progressing forward on the stage of change scale for, on average, 52.9% (SD, 35.1%) of nutrition and supplement risks compared to 42.9% (SD, 35.4) in the control group (IRR 1.22, 95% CI 1.03-1.45, P = 0.019); and (b) reported achieving the action and maintenance stage of change for, on average, 52.8% (SD 37.1) of the nutrition and supplement risks compared to 42.8% (SD, 37.9) in the control group (IRR 1.26, 96% CI 1.08-1.48, P = 0.004). For subjects beginning the study at the contemplation stage of change, intervention subjects reported progressing forward on the stage of change scale for 75.0% (SD, 36.3%) of their health risks compared to 52.1% (SD, 47.1%) in the control group (P = 0.006).
Conclusion: The scalability of Gabby has the potential to improve women's nutritional health as an adjunct to clinical care or at the population health level. Further studies are needed to determine if improving nutrition and supplement risks can impact clinical outcomes including optimization of weight.
Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01827215.
Keywords
diet, health disparities, health information technology, nutrition, preconception care, supplement use
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2021 Gardiner, Bickmore, Yinusa-Nyahkoon, Reichert, Julce, Sidduri, Martin-Howard, Woodhams, Aryan, Zhang, Fernandez, Loafman, Srinivasan, Cabral and Jack. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
DOI of Published Version
10.3389/fendo.2020.571705
Source
Gardiner P, Bickmore T, Yinusa-Nyahkoon L, Reichert M, Julce C, Sidduri N, Martin-Howard J, Woodhams E, Aryan J, Zhang Z, Fernandez J, Loafman M, Srinivasan J, Cabral H, Jack BW. Using Health Information Technology to Engage African American Women on Nutrition and Supplement Use During the Preconception Period. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021 Jan 19;11:571705. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.571705. PMID: 33584534; PMCID: PMC7874041. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Frontiers in endocrinology
Related Resources
PubMed ID
33584534
Repository Citation
Gardiner P, Bickmore T, Yinusa-Nyahkoon L, Reichert M, Julce C, Sidduri N, Martin-Howard J, Woodhams E, Aryan J, Zhang Z, Fernandez J, Loafman M, Srinivasan J, Cabral H, Jack BW. (2021). Using Health Information Technology to Engage African American Women on Nutrition and Supplement Use During the Preconception Period. Open Access Publications by UMMS Authors. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2020.571705. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/4537
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Commons, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Commons, Health Information Technology Commons, Maternal and Child Health Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Women's Health Commons