YoHA, Your Health Advocate

Project Description

Your Health Advocate (YoHA), is an AI driven healthcare chatbot to support unseen and unheard patients. YoHA learns by listening and offers patient advocacy tips, symptom assessments, and personalized health goal support.

Problem

Gender and racial disparity has caused a lack of trust amongst women and patients of color. Research showed that women are 50% more likely to receive an incorrect diagnosis for heart disease, even after having a heart attack. Black patients were 2.5 times more likely to have at least one negative descriptive term in their electronic health records. This project looked at ways to establish trust in diverse patients who have been negatively impacted by healthcare bias.

Insights

People want to be seen and heard. When inquiring on the AskWomen subreddit about prompted them to change doctors, 400 stories in less than 24 hours flooded in about not being listened to and being dismissed. Patients felt helpless and frustrated with how to advocate for themselves. Patients of color have yet to see themselves represented in the healthcare system. Chidiebere Ibe, a medical student and illustrator, made waves with his illustration of a black fetus. Most people realized this was something they had never seen. Representation of various skin tones in healthcare education and illustration is severely lacking, further attributing to the lack of trust from patients of color.

Solutions

Your Health Advocate, YoHA, is an AI driven web based chatbot designed to help diverse patients learn about patient advocacy, access personalized symptom assessments, and have improved personal health awareness. To be relevant, YoHA primarily lives on TikTok and Instagram, creating content of diverse healthcare stories and collaborating with healthcare advocates. Patients can access the bot through either of these platforms or the YoHA site without having to download an app or sign up for an account. YoHA thrives on listening and learning, so the more questions people ask, the better it can anticipate and provide personalized answers. At its heart, YoHA is a safe space for diverse patients to become empowered to take ownership over their health.