Abstract
Despite polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) being the most common endocrine condition
affecting reproductive-aged women, studies have shown the information needs of PCOS
consumers are not currently met. The expressed need by women with PCOS for accessible,
evidence-based personalized PCOS information informed the design and development of
the PCOS mobile tool—AskPCOS. The App provides a range of unique features such as:
evidence-based PCOS health information, self-diagnostic function, a question prompt
list to optimize health practitioner engagement, and a commonly asked questions list.
A five-phase App development process involved extensive stakeholder consultation,
system architecture design, development of the content repository, system prototyping,
and evaluation. AskPCOS is the first evidence-based, consumer-driven mobile App developed
by women and for women with PCOS and utilizes innovative technology to empower PCOS
consumers and optimize health outcomes. The App content repository is enhanced by
the best available evidence and expertise extracted from the International Evidence-Based
Guideline in PCOS (2018). The AskPCOS App has extensive data capture capability through
the usage of data gathering functions and backend analytics to optimize responsiveness
to consumer needs. In addition, the multilingual content and not-for-profit cost model
is designed to facilitate worldwide adoption of the tool, and address PCOS information
inequities in developing countries.
Keywords
polycystic ovary syndrome - evidence-based resources - mHealth - mobile - application
- health literacy - health equity
