In India, R4S is engaged in three activities: 1) Research support for a reproductive health video game, “Game of Choice, not Chance,” 2) askNivi, a reproductive health chat bot, and 3) capturing COVID-19 adaptations to FP programs. These activities are part of two R4S portfolios, the Digital and the COVID-19 portfolios.
Digital Portfolio
Digital Portfolio: The Digital Portfolio seeks to generate and apply evidence about how digital technologies can support FP selfcare by increasing knowledge, self-efficacy, and/or FP uptake and continuation in the context of informed choice. The focus is on digital FP self-care platforms that offer a constellation of options including information, decision-making tools and links to services, with the goal of understanding how these three dimensions can be optimized to improve the users’ experience.
1. For Game of Choice, not Chance (GOC), an activity under R4S’ Digital Portfolio, R4S collaborated closely with Howard Delafield International (HDI) and its partners. GOC is a serious video game that aims to provide girls and boys aged 15-19 with the knowledge they need and to guide them on a path where they have more agency for their RH decision-making. R4S contributes to two components of GOC: design testing and outcome evaluation. For design and concept testing of both the girl and the boy version of the game, R4S provides budgetary and technical research support to assess end users’ visual, conceptual and narrative game preferences; understand their experience of game elements and interactions; and test if learning goals are effective. For the outcome evaluation of the girl’s game, R4S contributes financial support, and HDI has technical responsibility for the research.
2. R4S is conducting a study to assess the impact of askNivi, a digital reproductive health chat bot, on 1) contraceptive uptake; 2) understanding of the user experience and 3) estimation of the cost of askNivi per new contraceptive user gained. R4S and the NGO Nivi (based in North Carolina) co-designed the study. The pilot started in late 2022, followed by study design adaptations and protocol reviews. The study will be conducted in fiscal year 2024.
COVID-19 Portfolio
The COVID-19 Portfolio was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. R4S designed and implemented studies aimed at capturing the pandemic’s impact on FP service delivery and use, as well as documenting and disseminating the lessons learned from program adaptations. Knowledge generated can be used to support mitigation strategies for COVID-19 and future epidemics and emergencies.
3. As part of the activities under the COVID-19 Portfolio, in 2020 R4S began systematically documenting adaptations across eight FP programs in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and India using a qualitative approach. An Excel documentation tool captured a total of 64 adaptations over a six-month period. An interactive site was developed to showcase adaptations and experiences of eight family planning programs in five countries. Since its launch, the interactive site has received nearly 900 views from at least 37 countries.
