The challenge
Women from ethnic minority backgrounds have poorer outcomes during pregnancy and post-natally and lower levels of engagement with healthcare professionals. A need was identified to provide culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate information, to empower women to make informed decisions about their care.
The solution
The JanamApp has been designed to address educational, cultural and social barriers in pregnancy and the post-natal period by providing culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate information in multiple South Asian languages, translating its messages into Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and Hindi. By providing women with validated evidence-based information in a language that they can understand, with appropriate visual images and animations, the app is designed to improve accessibility for women from different ethnic groups, empowering them to make informed decisions about their care.
The app was developed by a team led by Professor Angie Doshani, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, in collaboration with Dr Sameer Nakedar GP and director of 2SN Healthcare Limited. Dr Ceri Jones from the University of Leicester will be evaluating the app before a wider local and national rollout.
Senior Midwife, Jethi Karavadara, and other members of the medical and midwifery team have contributed to the app using co-design methods with women and their support networks.
The app offers access to healthy lifestyle advice, covering both physical and mental health, to improve the woman’s wellbeing. The project recently received almost £100,000 funding from Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare. SBRI Healthcare provides funding to innovators to develop solutions that tackle existing unmet needs faced by the NHS.
Outcomes
It is hoped that the app will reduce missed and cancelled appointments by explaining the importance of engagement with healthcare and that targeted information in the app will help support women to know what to look out for and how to self-manage common issues, as well as understanding when and how to raise concerns with healthcare professionals.
This will also hopefully improve adherence and engagement with treatment options for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, prematurity, and mental health.
The programme aims to improve patient care, increase efficiency in the NHS, and support the UK economy.
