Enhancing social accountability through adolescent and youth leadership: a case study on sexual and reproductive health from Gujarat, India

Background Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI)–driven apps for health education and promotion can help in the accomplishment of several United Nations sustainable development goals. SnehAI, developed by the Population Foundation of India, is the first Hinglish (Hindi + English) AI chatbot, deliberately designed for social and behavioral changes in India. It provides a private, nonjudgmental, and safe space to spur conversations about taboo topics (such as safe sex and family planning) and offers accurate, relatable, and trustworthy information and resources. Objective This study aims to use the Gibson theory of affordances to examine SnehAI and offer scholarly guidance on how AI chatbots can be used to educate adolescents and young adults, promote sexual and reproductive health, and advocate for the health entitlements of women and girls in India. Methods We adopted an instrumental case study approach that allowed us to explore SnehAI from the perspectives of technology design, program implementation, and user engagement. We also used a mix of qualitative insights and quantitative analytics data to triangulate our findings. Results SnehAI demonstrated strong evidence across fifteen functional affordances: accessibility, multimodality, nonlinearity, compellability, queriosity, editability, visibility, interactivity, customizability, trackability, scalability, glocalizability, inclusivity, connectivity, and actionability. SnehAI also effectively engaged its users, especially young men, with 8.2 million messages exchanged across a 5-month period. Almost half of the incoming user messages were texts of deeply personal questions and concerns about sexual and reproductive health, as well as allied topics. Overall, SnehAI successfully presented itself as a trusted friend and mentor; the curated content was both entertaining and educational, and the natural language processing system worked effectively to personalize the chatbot response and optimize user experience. Conclusions SnehAI represents an innovative, engaging, and educational intervention that enables vulnerable and hard-to-reach population groups to talk and learn about sensitive and important issues. SnehAI is a powerful testimonial of the vital potential that lies in AI technologies for social good.

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Evaluating Young People's Ability to Sustain an Evidence-Based Social Accountability Approach to Improve Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in Ntcheu, Malawi

Frontiers in Reproductive Health ◽

10.3389/frph.2021.645280 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Patience Mgoli Mwale ◽

Thumbiko Msiska ◽

Etobssie Wako ◽

Kriss Chinkhota ◽

Tapiwa Munthali ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Young People ◽

Reproductive Health ◽

Randomized Trial ◽

Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽

Social Accountability ◽

Government Officials ◽

Youth Groups ◽

Local Government Officials

The Community Score Card© (CSC), a social accountability approach, brings together community members, service providers, and local government officials to identify issues, prioritize, and plan actions to improve local health services. In addition, young people in Ntcheu, Malawi have been using the CSC approach to mobilize their communities to bring change across varying issues of importance to them. An earlier cluster randomized trial in Ntcheu showed the CSC effectively increased reproductive health behaviors, improved satisfaction with services, and enhanced the coverage and quality of services. Building upon this evidence of effectiveness, this study aims to evaluate if and how young people were able to sustain implementation of the CSC, and the improvements it brings, approximately 2.5 years after the randomized trial ended. As part of a larger evaluation of CSC sustainability in Ntcheu, we conducted 8 focus groups across 5 health catchment areas with 109 members of mixed-gender youth groups (58 females and 51 males, ages 14–29 years) who continued to engage with the CSC. Audio recordings were transcribed, translated into English, and coded in Dedoose using an a priori codebook augmented with emergent codes and a constant comparative approach. Although the 8 youth groups were still actively using the CSC, they had made some adaptations. While the CSC in Ntcheu initially focused on maternal health, young people adopted the approach for broader sexual and reproductive topics important to them such as child marriages and girls' education. To enable sustainability, young people trained each other in the CSC process; they also requested more formal facilitation training. Young people from Ntcheu recommended nationwide scale-up of the CSC. Young people organically adopted the CSC, which enabled them to highlight issues within their communities that were a priority to them. This diffusion among young people enabled them to elevate their voice and facilitate a process where they hold local government officials, village leaders, and services providers accountable for actions and the quality of healthcare services. Young people organized and sustained the CSC as a social accountability approach to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health in their communities more than 2.5 years after the initial effectiveness trial ended.

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An Artificial Intelligence Chatbot for Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in India (SnehAI): Instrumental Case Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.29969 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hua Wang ◽

Sneha Gupta ◽

Arvind Singhal ◽

Poonam Muttreja ◽

Sanghamitra Singh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Reproductive Health ◽

Language Processing ◽

Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽

Processing System ◽

User Engagement ◽

Social Good ◽

Instrumental Case Study ◽

Instrumental Case

BACKGROUND Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI)–driven apps for health education and promotion can help in the accomplishment of several United Nations sustainable development goals. SnehAI, developed by the Population Foundation of India, is the first Hinglish (Hindi + English) AI chatbot, deliberately designed for social and behavioral changes in India. It provides a private, nonjudgmental, and safe space to spur conversations about taboo topics (such as safe sex and family planning) and offers accurate, relatable, and trustworthy information and resources. OBJECTIVE This study aims to use the Gibson theory of affordances to examine SnehAI and offer scholarly guidance on how AI chatbots can be used to educate adolescents and young adults, promote sexual and reproductive health, and advocate for the health entitlements of women and girls in India. METHODS We adopted an instrumental case study approach that allowed us to explore SnehAI from the perspectives of technology design, program implementation, and user engagement. We also used a mix of qualitative insights and quantitative analytics data to triangulate our findings. RESULTS SnehAI demonstrated strong evidence across fifteen functional affordances: accessibility, multimodality, nonlinearity, compellability, queriosity, editability, visibility, interactivity, customizability, trackability, scalability, glocalizability, inclusivity, connectivity, and actionability. SnehAI also effectively engaged its users, especially young men, with 8.2 million messages exchanged across a 5-month period. Almost half of the incoming user messages were texts of deeply personal questions and concerns about sexual and reproductive health, as well as allied topics. Overall, SnehAI successfully presented itself as a trusted friend and mentor; the curated content was both entertaining and educational, and the natural language processing system worked effectively to personalize the chatbot response and optimize user experience. CONCLUSIONS SnehAI represents an innovative, engaging, and educational intervention that enables vulnerable and hard-to-reach population groups to talk and learn about sensitive and important issues. SnehAI is a powerful testimonial of the vital potential that lies in AI technologies for social good. CLINICALTRIAL

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