New research from DSPI’s DPhil student and Teaching Fellow Dr Maria Ambrosio has found behavioural factors influence how users engage with ParentText, a chatbot-led public health programme providing support to caregivers of adolescent girls in low-income South African communities.
The ParentText chatbot equips caregivers with guidance on reproductive and mental health, helping them to better support the healthy growth and development of adolescent girls. Adapted from Parenting for Lifelong Health programmes, the chatbot delivers personalised messages through text, audio, and visual messages to encourage positive parenting.
Involving over 1000 caregivers, the research examines the relationship between human and socioeconomic factors and the caregiver’s intention to use the parenting chatbot. The study found that social influence—specifically, a positive opinion of ParentText by family and neighbours—plays a direct role in shaping caregivers’ willingness to use the chatbot.
The study also found that caregivers in certain family settings were less likely to use the chatbot, indicating that additional support may be needed for households where:
- fathers were absent from the family
- caregivers were older or experiencing high levels of stress
- there are financial stresses.
“These findings highlight the need to design human-centred tools in collaboration with local communities to make sure there is a sense of ownership which will ultimately support long-term engagement,” commented Dr Ambrosio. “The study also highlights how important it is to work with fathers, acknowledging the important role they have in families’ health and wellbeing.”
Funded by the Lego Foundation and the Oak Foundation, the research used a novel Digital Health Engagement Model (DHEM) which introduced a multilevel approach. Co-authors include DSPI’s Professor Jamie Lachman, Professor Frances Gardner, and Zamakhanya Makhanya, and researchers from the Global Parenting Initiative, the University of Cape Town and the University of Western Cape, and was undertaken in collaboration with Mothers2Mothers, Clowns Without Borders South Africa, Zoë-Life South Africa and IDEMS International.
Read the full research in JMIR Publications
