LactaGuide
This work explores how voice assistants can encourage, educate and assist mothers with human milk donation.
Perguntas Disponíveis Implementadas no Aplicativo por Voz
1. Como funciona?
“Qual o papel dos bancos de leite”
“Como é a coleta do leite doado”
“Como funciona a doação de leite”
“Quem coleta o leite doado”
“Como o leite materno é coletado e distribuído”
2. Quem pode doar?
“Quem pode doar”
“Quem pode doar para o banco de leite”
“Como sei se posso doar leite materno”
“Eu posso doar meu leite materno”
“Quem pode ser doadora de leite”
“Como saber se posso ser uma doadora”
3. Como doar?
“Como doar leite materno”
“Como doar”
“Como posso doar”
“Qual é o processo para doar leite”
“Onde eu faço a doação de leite”
4. Quantidade Para Doar:
“Posso doar qualquer quantidade de leite”
“Quanto leite eu preciso ter para doar”
“Qualquer quantidade é aceita”
“Qual é o mínimo de leite para doar”
“Quanto leite preciso para doar”
5. Bairros Para Coleta:
“Quem vem buscar o leite para coleta”
“Quais bairros o banco de leite da UNIFESP coleta”
6. Triagem Para Coleta:
“Como saber se estou apta para doar leite”
“Preciso fazer exames antes de doar leite”
“Quais exames são necessários para doar leite”
“Como faço a triagem para doar leite”
7. Prazos e vencimento:
“O que fazer se o leite está perto de vencer”
“Preciso agendar a coleta antes da validade do leite acabar”
“Qual é a validade do leite humano congelado”
“O que acontece se o leite congelado vencer antes da coleta”
8. Como coletar?
“Qual o procedimento para a coleta”
“Mostre o passo a passo para coletar”
“Qual o passo a passo para fazer a coleta”
“Como devo me preparar para coletar leite”
“Qual é o jeito certo de coletar leite materno”
9. Sobre Extração Manual:
“Como extrair leite manualmente”
“Como fazer a retirada manual do leite”
“Como começar a retirada do leite”
“Como retirar o leite materno corretamente”
“Como faço para retirar o leite”
10. Importância de doar:
“O leite materno doado alimenta quantos recém-nascidos”
“Quantos bebês são beneficiados com a doação de leite”
“Como a doação de leite ajuda os bebês”
“A doação de leite materno salva vidas”
“Por que doar leite materno é importante”
11. Encontre bancos de leite:
“Quais os bancos de leite da minha região”
“Onde fica o banco de leite mais próximo”
“Qual o banco de leite mais próximo de mim”
“Onde posso encontrar bancos de leite”
Introduction
The benefits of breastfeeding for both the mother and baby, such as lower gastrointestinal infections in the child and more rapid maternal weight normalization after birth, are just a few examples of why physicians recommend breastfeeding for at least six months. For babies who cannot access their mother's breastmilk due to low production, inability to breastfeed due to health conditions, or even baby's hospitalization, pasteurized or fortified human milk is recommended. Human milk banks educate and support breastfeeding mothers and triage, collect, process, and store breastmilk for babies in need. Increasing awareness about human milk donation practices is critical to bringing more donors to milk banks and ensuring more babies have access to optimal nutrition. Voice assistants (VAs) can provide information and awareness to potential donors, helping mothers learn about the process, eligibility, and guidelines for milk extraction techniques.
Objective
This work applies user-centered design practices to develop a VA application focused on the awareness of breast milk donation. VAs offer hands-free, on-demand support and instructions for their users. Previous works use smartphone-based applications for milk donation initiatives; however, our work focuses on implementing hands-free instructions, facilitating the donors' lives by allowing them to receive instructions independently, and handling milk extraction and other daily tasks without disruption. By empowering breastfeeding mothers and educating them on the topic, we help increase the amount of milk donated and the quality of the milk received. We aim to provide a tool that will guide mothers through the milk extraction and storage process, aligned with the operational requirements of milk banks nationwide.
Methodology
LactaGuide aims to enhance access to information and increase awareness about human milk donation initiatives. This tool uses voice-based interactions to quickly provide responses about milk donation and guidance about the process. Due to its voice and screen capabilities, we deployed the Amazon Echo Show for the application. We developed the tool using the Amazon Developer and AWS platforms, where we configured the responses using Javascript. All prompts were created in Brazilian Portuguese to raise awareness about milk donation across Brazil. The tool underwent multiple iterations with healthcare providers from a milk bank to ensure it met the target audience's needs. We extracted 11 topics from the national network of milk banks in Brazil, that were configured in the tool and have accessory images that will compose the information provided to users.
Key Findings
The development of LactaGuide resulted in the configuration of over 51 different questions and intents across 11 key topics related to breast milk donation. In addition to question-and-answer functionalities, the tool provides step-by-step instructions on milk extraction, supplemented with images to help guide mothers through the process. The tool has already been implemented and is being validated by nurses from a milk bank in Brazil, who provided feedback that led to several improvements. Future work aims to conduct a user study to fully validate the tool’s usability and effectiveness in increasing local milk donations. Future work includes deploying the tool on a broader scale nationwide, where we expect LactaGuide to contribute meaningfully to milk donation initiatives, ensuring more babies have access to essential human milk and easier access to information by potential donors.
References
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