SafetyNEST recently launched its minimum viable product (MVP) for feedback from expectant women recruited by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment. The just published report outlines results and recommendations from the June 1 – September 30, 2016 testing phase. Here's some of what we learned:
1. More than 90% of women who tried the SafetyNEST MVP found the site to be “easy” or “very easy” to use, and rated it “helpful” or “very helpful.”
2. Twelve women who took the SurveyMonkey survey thought they were already “aware” or “very aware” of toxic chemicals in the home prior to accessing the SafetyNEST site, and didn’t see any change in awareness. However, for the remaining 20 women who answered this question, 19 of them (95%) reported an increase in their awareness of these issues as a result of SafetyNEST.
3. Between the time they reviewed the site and the time they took the survey, more than half of the respondents reported having already made concrete changes to their behavior as a result of their use of SafetyNEST.
4. More than half of survey respondents said they would recommend SafetyNEST to their health provider, and another 39% said they might recommend it. All except one said they would recommend it to friends or family.
5. All women participating in the focus group said they would very much like their health provider to specifically start a discussion with them about mitigating exposure to toxic chemicals, rather than waiting for them to bring it up as a patient. However, if SafetyNEST had a checklist of questions to ask your health provider during your prenatal visits, that would be well-used on the site.
6. It was important to women testing the MVP that the site offer a range of options for pregnant women to mitigate their risk of toxic exposures while taking the reality of their lives into account; offering high, medium, and low-cost options for safer products and suggesting ways to prioritize action to address the highest-concern situations were two methods for doing this.
7. Focus group participants recommended three options for user interaction with SafetyNEST: 1) browsing information room-by-room, 2) utilizing a search feature, and 3) taking a personal assessment quiz, which would ask a user about her lifestyle and household products currently in use, then generate a custom action plan that prioritizes changes that can be made as a result.
8. Overwhelmingly, women who took the SurveyMonkey survey and those in the focus group said they would like to see links and information about specific safe products on the SafetyNEST site. However, they didn’t necessarily need to be able to purchase the product right on the site.
9. Focus group participants were interested in a site feature that allowed them to flag information for future shopping, as well as a SafetyNEST Amazon shop where all products had been vetted and approved for safety – as opposed to the functionality to make purchases from within the site itself.
Results will inform SafetyNEST V.1 - now in design. For the full report, please contact alexandra@mysafetynest.org.
