XatJove Anoia, as a Tool to Bring Health Services Closer to Teenagers

The Internet has become an important tool for many people with health concerns [1,2] specially for adolescents [3,4]. Concerns about confidentiality, coupled with the stigma and shame associated with some conditions, specially sexually transmitted infections and other Health related problems make the internet a safe enviroment for adolescents to seek for information. This is thought to lead to an under-utilization of traditionally providers as the primary care health services.

These consultations, often made by young people, include sexual and reproductive health problems [5] and mental health disorders [6]. This can be a major problem, since the under-utilization of primary care services for certain topics and the search for advice on the Internet that is not usually trusted can subsequently lead to health complications that may require more expensive specialized medical interventions. long-term and, therefore, can translate into an increase in healthcare costs [7].

School programmes as Salut i Escola, have had as an objective all these years, to provide a more readily access to health care practitioners in order to improve their health related problems, doubts in sexual orientation, mental Health issues, drug related consultations and prevention of high-risk sexual behaviors by collaboration with educational centers and the community health services present in the territory.

Nowadays, with all the Advanced Technology we dispose, and because of the enormous amount of unstructured online content and the importance and difficulty of determining health information quality[8], it is almost obligatory to try to provide access to verified and make this study a tool to engage with adolescents and rovide them with accedd to trustful information.

Therefore, the Salut i Escola program together with the software of a well known company AGH Health, have been tried to minimize hesitation in seeking health advice through a chat application called Xatjove [9]. This is an asynchronous mobile text-based communication agent that connects users with healthcare professionals. These professionals provide appropriate guidance and advice to users in order to help them take Health related decisions.