Acceptability of health information technology aimed at environmental health education in a prenatal clinic

Abstract

Objective: To describe the acceptability of an interactive computer kiosk that provides environmental health education to low-income Latina prenatal patients.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to assess the acceptability of the Prenatal Environmental Health Kiosk pregnant Latina women in Salinas, CA (n=152). The kiosk is a low literacy, interactive touch-screen computer program with an audio component and includes graphics and an interactive game.

Results: The majority had never used a kiosk before. Over 90% of women reported that they learned something new while using the kiosk. Prior to using the kiosk, 22% of women reported their preference of receiving health education from a kiosk over a pamphlet or video compared with 57% after using the kiosk (p<0.01). Qualitative data revealed: (1) benefit of exposure to computer use; (2) reinforcing strategy of health education; and (3) popularity of the interactive game.

Conclusion: The Prenatal Environmental Health Kiosk is an innovative patient health education modality that was shown to be acceptable among a population of low-income Latino pregnant women in a prenatal care clinic.

Practice implications: This pilot study demonstrated that a health education kiosk was an acceptable strategy for providing Latina prenatal patients with information on pertinent environmental exposures.

Keywords: Environment health; Information technology; Pregnancy; Prenatal.