Acceptability and feasibility of a virtual counselor (VICKY) to collect family health histories

作者：Wang, Catharine^*; Bickmore, Timothy; Bowen, Deborah J; Norkunas, Tricia; Campion, MaryAnn; Cabral, Howard; Winter, Michael; Paasche Orlow, Michael

来源：Genetics in Medicine, 2015, 17(10): 822-830.

DOI：10.1038/gim.2014.198

• family health history
• genetic literacy
• health literacy
• relational agent
• validation

Purpose: To overcome literacy-related barriers in the collection of electronic family health histories, we developed an animated Virtual Counselor for Knowing your Family History, or VICKY. This study examined the acceptability and accuracy of using VICKY to collect family histories from underserved patients as compared with My Family Health Portrait (MFHP).
Methods: Participants were recruited from a patient registry at a safety net hospital and randomized to use either VICKY or MFHP. Accuracy was determined by comparing tool-collected histories with those obtained by a genetic counselor.
Results: A total of 70 participants completed this study. Participants rated VICKY as easy to use (91%) and easy to follow (92%), would recommend VICKY to others (83%), and were highly -satisfied (77%). VICKY identified 86% of first-degree relatives and 42% of seconddegree relatives; combined accuracy was 55%. As compared with MFHP, VICKY identified a greater number of health conditions overall (49% with VICKY vs. 31% with MFHP; incidence rate ratio (IRR): 1.59; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.13-2.25; P = 0.008), in particular, hypertension (47 vs. 15%; IRR: 3.18; 95% CI: 1.66-6.10; P = 0.001) and type 2 diabetes (54 vs. 22%; IRR: 2.47; 95% CI: 1.33-4.60; P = 0.004).
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that technological support for documenting family history risks can be highly accepted, feasible, and effective.

• 出版日期2015-10
• 单位东北大学