A Bespoke Social Network for Deaf Women in Ecuador to Access Information on Sexual and Reproductive Health

Yaroslava Robles-Bykbaev, Christian Oyola-Flores, Vladimir Espartaco Robles-Bykbaev, Martín López-Nores, Paola Ingavélez-Guerra, José Juan Pazos-Arias, Fernando Pesántez-Avilés and Manuel Ramos-Cabrer
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Yaroslava Robles-Bykbaev: GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, 010102 Cuenca, Ecuador
Christian Oyola-Flores: GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, 010102 Cuenca, Ecuador
Vladimir Espartaco Robles-Bykbaev: GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, 010102 Cuenca, Ecuador
Martín López-Nores: AtlantTIC Research Center, Department of Telematics Engineering, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Paola Ingavélez-Guerra: GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, 010102 Cuenca, Ecuador
José Juan Pazos-Arias: AtlantTIC Research Center, Department of Telematics Engineering, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Fernando Pesántez-Avilés: GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, 010102 Cuenca, Ecuador
Manuel Ramos-Cabrer: AtlantTIC Research Center, Department of Telematics Engineering, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: Many deaf women face the lack of numerous resources related to their personal development. The unavailability of proper information on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), in particular, causes problems of sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy in adolescence, sexual violence, complications during pregnancy, etc. In response to this, we have created a social network that delivers SRH content (verified and validated by experts) to women with different degrees of hearing loss. The site features a recommender system that selects the most relevant pieces of content to deliver to each woman, driven by her individual preferences, needs and levels of knowledge on the different subjects. We report experiments conducted in Cuenca, Ecuador, between 2017 and 2018 with 98 volunteers from low- and middle-income settings, aiming to evaluate the quality and appeal of the contents, the coherence of the methodology followed to create them, and the effectiveness of the content recommendations. The positive results encourage the frequent creation of new content and the refinement of the recommendation logic as the cohort of users expands over time.

Keywords: Sexual and Reproductive Health; deaf women; Ecuadorian Sign Language; hearing loss; recommender system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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