Adaptation and development of an implementation strategy for a novel artificial intelligence-driven ehealth behaviour change program in Colombia

Background

The burden of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) is unequivocal. The root cause of most NCDs is a specific cluster of health risk behaviours, e.g., physical inactivity, poor diet, and smoking. Despite widespread knowledge of these risks, 43% of Colombians remain physically inactive, 28% report not meeting daily vegetables and fruits intake, and 12% smoke. However, these risks are not even distributed in the population with individuals who live in lower socioeconomic status (SES) areas and those with lower levels of formal education tending to engage in more health-risk behaviours. Collectively, there is a great and clear need to implement effective behaviour change-based lifestyle interventions in Colombia. Targeting behaviour change in individuals who are in early adulthood (e.g., 18-39) is important to reduce NCDs. However, promoting health behaviour change in this population has been a challenge. Our research team have created an artificial intelligence-driven ehealth behaviour change program (ACCELERATION) which has shown to be effective at changing behaviours and reducing NCD risk in Canada.

Aims

The main objectives of this application are to:

1. adapt the ACCELERATION program to the Colombian setting and test its implementation across the province of Antioquia; and

2. create a scale-up strategy for its implementation across Colombia, which can be extended to other similar countries.

Project plan

We will utilise three key frameworks to capture and interpret the data: the Action, Actor, Context, Target, Time [AACTT] framework; The Theoretical Domains Framework [TDF], and the ExpandNet framework.To achieve these objectives, we will conduct a series of four interconnected studies:

1. Use qualitative focus group and user experience (UX) methodologies to adapt ACCELERATION to the Colombian setting.

2. Conduct an implementation proof of concept study within the province of Antioquia to demonstrate effectiveness and evaluate practical aspects of scaling up across Colombia.

3. Undertake in-depth interviews with health administrators and policy makers to define the critical success factors for scaling-up ACCELERATION in Colombia.

4. Finally, we will incorporate all the information obtained above into the WHO ExpandNet framework to develop a scale-up strategy that can be used to implement ACCELERATION across Colombia and similar LMICs.

This work builds from the outstanding, internationally, recognised excellence of the research team and will be possible due to the successful and meaningful engagement of key stakeholders, including healthcare delivery organisations, community partners, and key health policy makers.

These studies will provide the basis to successfully implement ACCELERATION within Colombia, with an emphasis on benefitting more people on a lasting basis. We will also develop tools for the further scaling-up of ACCELERATION across similar LMICs.

Principal investigators

Funding organisations

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