Study of Virtual Patient Advocate for Preconception Care for African American Women

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Preconception Care

In brief

This study is to examine the effectiveness of a health communication system (Gabby) that assesses preconception health risks and tailors the intervention to each subject, based on her health risks. There is a need to develop practical tools that can be used to identify preconception health risks and will facilitate the initiation of intervention for these risks; this project specifically targets young Black or African American women in order to reduce major disparities in birth outcomes. Clinicians do not have time to assess for over 100 preconception health risks that can impact birth outcomes; this system can streamline that assessment and create a personalized list of risks. Patients can then share their list with clinicians to make their healthcare visits more effective. This study involves a pilot of the system through the Preconception Peer Educator (PPE) Program, which is a program created by the Office of Minority Health. The program began in historically black colleges in the United States, with the purpose of training students to reach out to their community to educate about the increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and infant mortality among African Americans. The PPEs teach about preconception health, or getting healthy before pregnancy, to increase the chances of having a healthy baby. Now the PPE program has expanded to colleges in over 20 states across the country.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01812824

Run by

Boston Medical Center

People needed

100

Starts

2011-02-01

Expected to finish

2015-01-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-07-28

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 25. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• female
• African American
• ages 18-25
• access to telephone and agrees to receive study-related calls
• access to computer with high-speed internet

You may not qualify if…

• Does not speak English
• Is currently pregnant

Where it is running

• Boston Medical Center — Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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