Acceptability of health information technology aimed at environmental health education in a prenatal clinic

•We assess the acceptability of a health education kiosk for Latina pregnant women.•The computer-based kiosk provides environmental health education for Latina women.•The kiosk was positively received by low-income Latina women during prenatal care.•It is feasible to use the kiosk during routine prenatal health care visits.

ObjectiveTo describe the acceptability of an interactive computer kiosk that provides environmental health education to low-income Latina prenatal patients.MethodsA mixed-methods approach was used to assess the acceptability of the Prenatal Environmental Health Kiosk pregnant Latina women in Salinas, CA (n = 152). The kiosk is a low literacy, interactive touch-screen computer program with an audio component and includes graphics and an interactive game.ResultsThe majority had never used a kiosk before. Over 90% of women reported that they learned something new while using the kiosk. Prior to using the kiosk, 22% of women reported their preference of receiving health education from a kiosk over a pamphlet or video compared with 57% after using the kiosk (p < 0.01). Qualitative data revealed: (1) benefit of exposure to computer use; (2) reinforcing strategy of health education; and (3) popularity of the interactive game.ConclusionThe Prenatal Environmental Health Kiosk is an innovative patient health education modality that was shown to be acceptable among a population of low-income Latino pregnant women in a prenatal care clinic.Practice implicationsThis pilot study demonstrated that a health education kiosk was an acceptable strategy for providing Latina prenatal patients with information on pertinent environmental exposures.