@article {Jack441, author = {Brian Jack and Timothy Bickmore and Megan Hempstead and Leanne Yinusa-Nyahkoon and Ekaterina Sadikova and Suzanne Mitchell and Paula Gardiner and Fatima Adigun and Brian Penti and Daniel Schulman and Karla Damus}, title = {Reducing Preconception Risks Among African American Women with Conversational Agent Technology}, volume = {28}, number = {4}, pages = {441--451}, year = {2015}, doi = {10.3122/jabfm.2015.04.140327}, publisher = {The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine}, abstract = {Background: Systems and tools are needed to identify and mitigate preconception health (PCH) risks, particularly for African American (AA) women, given persistent health disparities. We developed and tested {\textquotedblleft}Gabby,{\textquotedblright} an online preconception conversational agent system.Methods: One hundred nongravid AA women 18{\textendash}34 years of age were screened for over 100 PCH risks and randomized to the Gabby or control group. The Gabby group interacted with the system for up to six months; the control group received a letter indicating their health risks with a recommendation to talk with their clinician. The numbers, proportions, and types of risks were compared between groups.Results: There were 23.7 (SD 5.9) risks identified per participant. Eighty-five percent (77 of 91) provided 6 month follow up data. The Gabby group had greater reductions in the number (8.3 vs. 5.5 risks, P \< .05) and the proportion (27.8\% vs 20.5\%, P \< 0.01) of risks compared to controls. The Gabby group averaged 63.7 minutes of interaction time. Seventy-eight percent reported that it {\textquotedblleft}was easy to talk to Gabby{\textquotedblright} and 64\% used information from Gabby to improve their health.Conclusion: Gabby was significantly associated with preconception risk reduction. More research is needed to determine if Gabby can benefit higher risk populations and if risk reduction is clinically significant.}, issn = {1557-2625}, URL = {https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/4/441}, eprint = {https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/4/441.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine} }