Peru Isabel: Your Electronic Counselor [from Reaching Youth Worldwide]

Involve and Teach Youth Through Technology

Peru's Isabel: Your Electronic Counselor

Innovative technology plays an increasingly important role in providing information. The use of computer technology for behavioral counseling and health education has become popular within the last five years. This rise in popularity is due, in part, to the increased availability of powerful, yet low-cost computers that makes it feasible to deliver computer-based health education materials to large audiences.

JHU/PCS, the Population Council in Peru, and the Peruvian Institute for Responsible Parenthood (INPPARES, an International Planned Parenthood Federation affiliate) joined together in 1997 to evaluate the capability of interactive multimedia CD-ROM technology to deliver family planning, reproductive health, sex, and sexuality information to adolescents and young adults in Peru. The partners chose to use computer-based interactive multimedia to reach young adults, because it allows sensitive information to be accessed while the user remains anonymous. This feature is attractive to adolescents who may not be comfortable speaking to adults. In addition, interactive multimedia appeal to urban youth, especially as schools and universities throughout Latin American are installing multimedia computer systems. JHU/PCS also saw this project as a cost-effective way to reach the intended audiences by using existing print and video material produced by Peru's Ministry of Health (MOH) and APROPO to develop the CD-ROM.

JHU/PCS, in collaboration with INPPARES, designed, produced, and beta tested Isabel: Your Electronic Counselor. [11] Isabel is an interactive CD-ROM intended to increase levels of knowledge about sex, sexuality, unplanned pregnancy, contraception, and gender to influence the eventual adoption of a family planning method and avoid risky health behaviors. The software was tested in one clinic in Lima, Peru. A computer with a touch screen in a private area of the clinic was accessed by clients prior to their appointments. The software was eventually distributed to more than 100 MOH clinics throughout the country. Isabel covers three main subjects (reproductive health, sex education, and family planning), which are divided into 25 subtopics. The information is presented through videos, animated cartoons, text, and audio. Isabel also contains an anonymous database capable of tracking user sex, age, education level, and area of residence.

How it worked

Computer-based instruction (CBI) functions as an interactive mass medium and disseminates standardized messages to a large audience. Users can seek personalized information and control the rate of learning.

CBI provides a confidential and anonymous means of access to explicit information. This feature is particularly important for adolescent sex education projects that may otherwise be limited in the content they offer.

The software is designed for use with touch screens so that it remains accessible to people with little or no previous computer experience.

Evaluation Results

METHODOLOGY: Due to the confidential nature of the software, all the evaluation data were gathered at the terminal sites. The data included user statistics along with reactions to Isabel. No attempt was made to follow up with any of the users.

During the 14-week evaluation, conducted by the Population Council in 1998, Isabel was available at one clinic site for a total of 455 hours. A total of 670 people used Isabel and accessed an average of 2.6 subtopics. The typical user was a woman (67 percent) between the ages of 13 and 24 (43 percent) with an education beyond high school. (84 percent).

The five topics of greatest interest were: 1) benefits of family planning, 2) first sexual relation, 3) machismo, 4) hygiene, and 5) abortion prevention. Preferences, however, differed by age. Users under age 13 most often wanted information about female anatomy. For users aged 13 to 19, machismo was the most popular topic. Users aged 20 to 40 preferred information on the benefits of family planning. Those over age 40 were most interested in vasectomy information.

Of 232 clinic users questioned, 96 percent liked Isabel. Specifically, users mentioned that the software was motivating, innovative, informative, and educational. Others users mentioned they liked using Isabel because it was free of charge, always accessible, and saved time during the clinic visit. The 4 percent of users who did not like Isabel cited the lack of in-depth information as the primary reason.

Statistics also showed that 73 percent of clients said Isabel was useful because it allowed them to access new information that was easy to understand. Users also mentioned that Isabel helped them to avoid embarrassment during their clinic visit, because they were able to get information they needed without having to address issues of sex and sexuality with strangers.

Furthermore, close to 60 percent of clients found it easier to interact with Isabel than a traditional counselor. The remaining clients felt that talking to a counselor was better, because the counselor could provide more information in a more confidential setting than Isabel.