Recruiting

Chatbot & Postpartum Care

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT07223736

Conditions

Pelvic Floor Disorder

Loneliness

Postpartum

Mental Health

Depression

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: Female

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) postpartum chatbot

Standard of Care (SOC)

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a postpartum chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence (genAI) can help new mothers get better pelvic floor health information and feel less lonely after childbirth.

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

  • Does using the chatbot improve postpartum pelvic floor health knowledge?
  • Does using the chatbot help reduce feelings of loneliness during the postpartum period?
  • Does using the chatbot impact pelvic floor symptoms?

Researchers will compare standard postpartum care to standard care plus the chatbot.

Participants will:

Be assigned by chance (like flipping a coin) to standard postpartum care with or without access to the chatbot.

If in the chatbot group, participants will receive education and support via the chatbot over a 4-week period.

Both groups will complete questionnaires to measure their pelvic floor knowledge, pelvic floor symptoms, feelings of loneliness, depression, infant bonding, perceived social support, adverse childhood experiences, and peri-traumatic distress.

The chatbot was created by urogynecology experts in collaboration with UC San Diego computer science and biomedical informatics researchers. The chatbot is designed to give new mothers personalized, evidence-based information and support in real time.

Conditions

Pelvic Floor Disorder

Loneliness

Postpartum

Mental Health

Depression

Study ID

NCT07223736

Start date

Jan 8, 2026

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Nov 1, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Oct 1, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: Female

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Has the capacity to provide informed consent
2. Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study
3. Postpartum persons, aged >18 years old
4. Primiparous
5. Vaginal or cesarean delivery
6. English Speaking
7. Internet access and proficiency of internet access
8. Access to a smartphone
9. Postpartum 2-6 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Multiparous
2. Major neonatal anomaly
3. Delivery < 34 weeks gestational age
4. Intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD)
5. Enrollment in any interfering studies
6. Unanticipated NICU admission
7. Discharge home without live baby
8. Surrogates/gestational carrier
9. Birthing individuals with baby placed for adoption
10. Currently pregnant
11. Psychiatric history requiring psychiatric hospitalization prior to delivery
12. Other psychiatric conditions needing immediate attention and intervention as determined by study team and/or treatment team

Study Design

Enrollment

130 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Standard postpartum care

Standard postpartum care

experimental: Generative AI Chatbot Intervention

Generative AI Chatbot Intervention

Interventions

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) postpartum chatbot

Participants randomly assigned to the chatbot intervention will be provided a URL to a secure, HIPAA-compliant web application hosted by UC San Diego (https://knolohealth.org/). This application features a generative AI-powered chatbot designed to deliver postpartum pelvic floor education and support. The chatbot is available for a 4-week period following enrollment and can be accessed at any time during that window.

The chatbot's educational content is grounded in reputable, evidence-based resources, including national and international urogynecology patient education materials, as well as postpartum recovery guidelines. Participants can interact with the chatbot to ask questions and will receive tailored educational responses related to pelvic floor health.

No additional in-person study visits are required for the intervention. Chatbot usage data (e.g., frequency, timing and content of chatbot interactions) will be collected to assess engagement and user needs.

Standard of Care (SOC)

Access to the same postpartum care that participants would receive if they did not participate in the study.

Primary outcome measure

  • Prolapse and incontinence knowledge [ Time Frame: Will be administered to both groups at three time points: 1) at enrollment, 2) post-intervention or standard of care, 3) at 6 months postpartum. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Alexandra C Nutaitis, DO

858-657-7344anutaitis@health.ucsd.edu

Cecile Ferrando, MD, MPH

(858) 657-1238cferrando@health.ucsd.edu

Locations

University of California San Diego

Recruiting

La Jolla, California, United States, 92093

Principal Investigator:

Cecile Ferrando, MD, MPH

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, San Diego

Last update posted

Aug 5, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • loneliness
  • postpartum
  • pelvic floor disorder
  • mental health
  • depression
  • peritraumatic distress
  • artificial intelligence
  • AI
  • chatbot
  • LLM
  • women
  • large language model

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-04. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, San Diego on 2026-08-05.