Digital Personal Health Coaching Platform for Promoting Human Papillomavirus Infection Vaccinations and Cancer Prevention: Knowledge Graph-Based Recommendation System

Authors

Nariman Ammar, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Olufunto A. Olusanya, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Chad Melton, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Lokesh Chinthala, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Xiaolei Huang, Department of Computer Science, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.
Brianna M. White, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.
Arash Shaban-Nejad, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Health promotion can empower populations to gain more control over their well-being by using digital interventions that focus on preventing the root causes of diseases. Digital platforms for personalized health coaching can improve health literacy and information-seeking behavior, leading to better health outcomes. Personal health records have been designed to enhance patients' self-management of a disease or condition. Existing personal health records have been mostly designed and deployed as a supplementary service that acts as views into electronic health records. OBJECTIVE: We aim to overcome some of the limitations of electronic health records. This study aims to design and develop a personal health library (PHL) that generates personalized recommendations for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine promotion and cancer prevention. METHODS: We have designed a proof-of-concept prototype of the Digital Personal Health Librarian, which leverages machine learning; natural language processing; and several innovative technological infrastructures, including the Semantic Web, social linked data, web application programming interfaces, and hypermedia-based discovery, to generate a personal health knowledge graph. RESULTS: We have designed and implemented a proof-of-the-concept prototype to showcase and demonstrate how the PHL can be used to store an individual's health data, for example, a personal health knowledge graph. This is integrated with web-scale knowledge to support HPV vaccine promotion and prevent HPV-associated cancers among adolescents and their caregivers. We also demonstrated how the Digital Personal Health Librarian uses the PHL to provide evidence-based insights and knowledge-driven explanations that are personalized and inform health decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: Digital platforms such as the PHL can be instrumental in improving precision health promotion and education strategies that address population-specific needs (ie, health literacy, digital competency, and language barriers) and empower individuals by facilitating knowledge acquisition to make healthy choices.

Publication Title

JMIR formative research

Recommended Citation

Ammar, N., Olusanya, O. A., Melton, C., Chinthala, L., Huang, X., White, B. M., & Shaban-Nejad, A. (2023). Digital Personal Health Coaching Platform for Promoting Human Papillomavirus Infection Vaccinations and Cancer Prevention: Knowledge Graph-Based Recommendation System. JMIR formative research, 7, e50210. https://doi.org/10.2196/50210