Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
203,234 studies31 sourcesUpdated 31 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0PLOS Digital Health

Supporting engagement, behavior change, and equitable self-management in menstrual and menopausal health: A multi-agent digital-health framework

  • Koichiro Yuji1
  • Wakako Yuji2
  • Maika Nariai3
  • Yuki Enomoto4
  • Osamu Wada-Hiraike
4 affiliations
  1. 1Project Division of International Healthcare Innovation Research, The Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  2. 2Department of Research, Kitasato Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
  3. 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  4. 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nippon Medical School Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Menstrual-cycle–related conditions and, later, menopausal symptoms are highly prevalent across the female life course and impose a large, under-recognized burden on quality of life and work, yet digital tools to support self-management are fragmented, hard to sustain, and unevenly reached. We propose HERA (Health Engagement and Reflective Agent architecture), a conceptual, hypothesis-generating framework for supporting engagement, behavior change, and equitable self-management in menstrual and menopausal health across the life course. Under human governance, HERA combines two adaptive agents (interpretation and orchestration) with three rule-based modules (self-monitoring and data integration, guidance and content governance, and equity and engagement monitoring) that integrate self-monitoring, deliver personalized feedback, surface governed guidance, monitor equity, and coordinate hand-offs to clinicians and occupational-health services. Distinct from clinician-facing diagnostic agents, HERA is patient-facing and treats equity and engagement as first-class. We distinguish technically feasible from aspirational elements and set out a staged, threshold-gated evaluation plan. HERA is a design reference, not a validated system.

Related

  1. Supporting adolescent menstrual health to improve participation and performance in physical activity: rapid realist review to inform a logic model for intervention development
    Alison Cooper, Ainah Mahaiyuddin, Daniel Sim +5
    BMJ OpenPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC 4.0Full textEpidemiology & public healthCrossrefDOAJPMC
  2. Effect of S-equol supplementation on menopausal symptoms, sleep complaints, pain, and work engagement: an exploratory, multicentre open-label study in Spanish women
    Santiago Palacios, Camil Castelo-Branco, Kensaku Sugaya +1
    BMC Women's HealthPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textEndocrinology & metabolismPMC
  3. Sanitation barriers, lack of awareness and unaffordability affecting menstrual health management among urban low-income group, informal sector women workers: A study from Mumbai suburbs
    S. Shaikh, S. Sharma, V. Shah +2
    medRxivPreprintAll rights reservedFull textEpidemiology & public healthmedRxiv
  4. Supporting Social Engagement in Long-Term Care Through Paired Socially Assistive Robot-Virtual Reality Activities for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment and Apathy.
    Miroslava Migovich, Ritam Ghosh, Nibraas Khan +7
    Clinical interventions in agingPeer-reviewedCC BY-NCFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  5. Patient-Centered menopause health management and menopausal hormone therapy uptake: A real-world study from a tertiary Hospital in China.
    He Huang, Xiaoliang Men, Xiufeng Lin +5
    Preventive medicine reportsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textEndocrinology & metabolismEurope PMC

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{yuji2026supporting,
  title = {{Supporting engagement, behavior change, and equitable self-management in menstrual and menopausal health: A multi-agent digital-health framework}},
  author = {Koichiro Yuji and Wakako Yuji and Maika Nariai and Yuki Enomoto and Osamu Wada-Hiraike},
  journal = {PLOS Digital Health},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pdig.0001821},
  url = {https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0001821},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Supporting engagement, behavior change, and equitable self-management in menstrual and menopausal health: A multi-agent digital-health framework
AU  - Koichiro Yuji
AU  - Wakako Yuji
AU  - Maika Nariai
AU  - Yuki Enomoto
AU  - Osamu Wada-Hiraike
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/05
JO  - PLOS Digital Health
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pdig.0001821
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0001821
AB  - Menstrual-cycle–related conditions and, later, menopausal symptoms are highly prevalent across the female life course and impose a large, under-recognized burden on quality of life and work, yet digital tools to support self-management are fragmented, hard to sustain, and unevenly reached. We propose HERA (Health Engagement and Reflective Agent architecture), a conceptual, hypothesis-generating framework for supporting engagement, behavior change, and equitable self-management in menstrual and menopausal health across the life course. Under human governance, HERA combines two adaptive agents (interpretation and orchestration) with three rule-based modules (self-monitoring and data integration, guidance and content governance, and equity and engagement monitoring) that integrate self-monitoring, deliver personalized feedback, surface governed guidance, monitor equity, and coordinate hand-offs to clinicians and occupational-health services. Distinct from clinician-facing diagnostic agents, HERA is patient-facing and treats equity and engagement as first-class. We distinguish technically feasible from aspirational elements and set out a staged, threshold-gated evaluation plan. HERA is a design reference, not a validated system.
SN  - 2767-3170
ER  -