JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The evaluation of health counseling service and their consultations is very important to ensure the quality and benefit of the content. Nevertheless, evaluation is associated with numerous hurdles such as language barriers, little awareness of needs and concerns on the part of clients.

Objective:

The aim of these studies was to supplement, optimize and digitize existing paper and pencil evaluation forms of a health counseling service that provides face-to-face consultations in a participatory and client-centered manner and to make them available on the Internet in an accessible and multilingual format while gaining more knowledge about needs and barriers of the clients with the aim of iteratively adapting the work of the healthcare facility to the needs of clients in the future.

Methods:

The research team designed, conducted and analyzed an in-depth-interview study with clients of a health counseling service. The results on demands, wishes and social needs were then used to revise and supplement the previously existing one-page paper-pencil questionnaire (in German) for the evaluation of counseling sessions. With the help of artificial intelligence, the new three-page questionnaire was converted into easy language (with Kunin smiley scale), translated into seven other languages and audio data was created for all questions in all languages. The questionnaire was programmed in an online tool and collected on site with a tablet as well as integrated on the health counseling service website and is now continuously used to adapt the service to the needs of the clients.

Results:

A total of 18 health counseling clients took part in the in-depth interviews, which were conducted in the clients' native language when possible and lasted between 8 and 30 minutes. The results show that many clients visiting the advisory center are burdened by both physical and mental health issues and a significant amount of assistance provided at the center is focused on helping clients complete various forms required by health insurance companies and medical professionals. They also expressed a high level of satisfaction with the health advisory services. The revised and supplemented online questionnaire has been completed by 41 clients. The evaluations show that only 21 people (51.2%) completed the questionnaire in the national language (German). English and Arabic were the second most common choices with 6 data sets each (14.6%). The results on health burdens and need for help were confirmed and it was shown that self-perception with regard to self-help is very low.

Conclusions:

Contrary to previous assumptions, it was not help with health problems that was in the foreground of the clients' interests, but help with the excessive demands placed on clients by forms and requirements imposed by institutions. The results suggest that customers are very satisfied with the advice they receive and the need for multilingual health counseling service as well as multilingual evaluation. Help is especially needed when filling out forms for doctors and applications for health insurance companies. Furthermore, many clients lacked confidence in their ability to manage healthcare processes independently in the future, emphasizing the need for greater awareness of available resources and support networks.