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

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 16; no. 20; p. 3962
• Main Authors: Robles-Bykbaev, Yaroslava, Oyola-Flores, Christian, Robles-Bykbaev, Vladimir Espartaco, López-Nores, Martín, Ingavélez-Guerra, Paola, Pazos-Arias, José Juan, Pesántez-Avilés, Fernando, Ramos-Cabrer, Manuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17-10-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Access to Information; Adolescent; Adult; Browsing; Communication; Content management software; Deafness; Design; Ecuador; Ethnography; Female; Guidelines; Hearing; Hearing loss; Humans; Illiteracy; Internet resources; Literature reviews; Low income groups; Pregnancy; Pregnancy, Unwanted; Recommender systems; Reproduction; Reproductive Health; Sex Offenses; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Health; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Sign language; Social Networking; Social networks; Social organization; Websites; Womens health; Young Adult; Ecuador; United States > US; Spain; recommender system; hearing loss; Sexual and Reproductive Health; deaf women; Ecuadorian Sign Language
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16203962

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.