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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT06053515

Rosie the Chatbot: Leveraging Automated and Personalized Health Information Communication

Rosie the Chatbot is an educational chatbot that moms can have on their computers or cellphones and will work by moms typing in their questions about pregnancy, health, infant milestones, and other variety of health related topics and receiving back a response immediately. Rosie only provides information from verified sources such as children's hospitals, health organizations and government agencies. Rosie does not ask moms to provide any personal information on her or her child, her chat is completely confidential, it works in English and Spanish and will be free.

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Key information

Conditions

Pregnancy Depression, Postpartum Depressive Disorder Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications Infant Conditions Infant Development Mental Disorders Mood Disorders Postpartum Depression Pregnancy Complications Puerperal Disorders Urogenital Diseases

Age range

14 year–99 year

Sex eligibility

Female

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Maryland

College Park, Maryland, 20742, United States

About this study

This study will examine whether the use of a chatbot to impart health information to minority women during pregnancy and postpartum period improves health care seeking behavior and maternal and infant health outcomes. This study does not involve administration of an investigational intervention and therefore poses minimal risk to participants.

Aim 1: Develop technology for a "chatbot" that will provide health information support to vulnerable mothers the moment they need it.

Aim 2: Evaluate the use of Rosie on maternal and infant outcomes. Aim 3: Release an open-source packet for the construction of a chatbot.

  • Participants in the study will be randomly assigned into one of two groups, Rosie the Chatbot group (treatment group) and Book Club group (control group).
  • Participants in the Rosie the Chatbot Group will be taking a pre-test health survey, mid-test health survey, and post-test health survey. In addition, they will be expected to actively use the chatbot app by asking questions related to maternal and infant health and selecting "thumbs up or thumbs down" to provide feedback for questions' response and use the features (video library, resources page, frequently asked questions (FAQ), and daily syllabus).
  • Participants in the Book Club Group will be taking a pre-test health survey, mid-test health survey, and post-test health survey. In addition, they will receive a monthly children's book, which they are expected to read with baby if parenting or individually if pregnant.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 14 years and older
  • Racial minority women
  • Pregnant or has an infant < 6 months
  • Must be able to read English or Spanish

Exclusion criteria

  • Mother younger than 14 years of age at time of child's birth.
  • Non-hispanic white

Treatment and study plan

Rosie the Chatbot

Behavioral

Participants in the intervention group will be using the chatbot to ask questions related to the mom and baby's health, provide feedback "selecting thumbs up or thumbs down" on the questions' response, and use the features (video library, resources page, frequently asked questions (FAQ), and daily syllabus). In addition, participants will be taking a pre-test health survey, mid-test health survey, and post-test health survey.

Primary outcomes

  1. Maternal postpartum depression

    Time frame: 12 months post randomization

    The investigators will utilize the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Scale to measure maternal depression. This scale can range from 0 to 27, since each of the 9 items can be scored from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). Higher scores indicate worse depression severity.

  2. Number of emergency room visits

    Time frame: 12 months post randomization

    The investigators will measure the number of visits to the emergency room.

  3. Attendance of well-baby visits (preventive healthcare visits)

    Time frame: 12 months post randomization

    The investigators will measure the number of well-baby visits.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Maryland, College Park

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Registry information

Official study title

Rosie the Chatbot: Leveraging Automated and Personalized Health Information Communication to Reduce Disparities in Maternal and Child Health

Important dates

Study start
2023
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Sep 25, 2023
Registry last updated
May 5, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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