Mobile Phone-Based Chatbot for Family Planning and Contraceptive Information

2019 ◽  
pp. 342-352
Author(s):  
Syed Ali Hussain ◽  
Folu Ogundimu ◽  
Shirish Bhattarai
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Mobile Phone

scholarly journals A randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by app instant messaging to increase the acceptability of effective contraception among young people in Tajikistan: study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e017606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ona McCarthy ◽  
Baptiste Leurent ◽  
Phil Edwards ◽  
Ravshan Tokhirov ◽  
Caroline Free
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Young People ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Tropical Medicine ◽  
Trial Registration ◽  
London School ◽  
Effective Contraception ◽  
Randomised Controlled

IntroductionWomen in lower income countries experience unintended pregnancies at a higher rate compared with women in higher income countries. Unintended pregnancy is associated with numerous poorer health outcomes for both women and their children. In Tajikistan, an estimated 26% of married individuals aged 15–24 years have an unmet need for contraception. The strong cultural value placed on childbearing and oppositional attitudes towards contraception are major barriers to contraceptive uptake in the country.Mobile phone ownership is widespread in Tajikistan. The option of receiving reproductive health support on your personal phone may be an appealing alternative to attending a clinic, particularly for young people. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Tajik Family Planning Association have partnered to develop and evaluate a contraceptive behavioural intervention delivered by mobile phone. The intervention was developed in 2015–2016 guided by behavioural science. It consists of short instant messages sent through an app over 4 months, contains information about contraception and behaviour change methods.Methods and analysisThis randomised controlled trial is designed to evaluate the effect of the intervention on self-reported acceptability of effective contraception at 4 months. 570 men and women aged 16–24 years will be allocated with a ratio of 1:1 to receive the intervention messages or the control messages about trial participation. The messages will be sent through the Tajik Family Planning Association’s ‘healthy lifestyles’ app, which contains basic information about contraception.Ethics and disseminationThe trial was granted ethical approval by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Interventions Research Ethics Committee on 16 May 2016 and by the Tajik National Scientific and Research Centre on Paediatrics and Child Surgery on 15 April 2016. The results of the trial will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals and disseminated to study stakeholders.Trial registration numberClinicaltrial.govNCT02905513.Date of registration14 September 2016.WHO trial registration datasethttp://apps.who.int/trialsearch/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=NCT02905513

scholarly journals Cost-effectiveness of a mobile phone-based support intervention to increase uptake of post-abortion family planning in Cambodia (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Hill ◽  
Jourdan McGinn ◽  
John Cairns ◽  
Caroline Free ◽  
Chris Smith
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Incremental Cost ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio ◽  
Cost Effectiveness Ratio ◽  
Disability Adjusted Life ◽  
Post Abortion ◽  
The Cost

BACKGROUND Despite progress over the last decade, there is a continuing unmet need for contraception in Cambodia. Interventions delivered by mobile phone could help increase uptake and continuation of contraception, particularly amongst hard-to-reach populations, by providing interactive, personalised support inexpensively wherever the person is located and whenever needed. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of mobile phone-based support added to standard post-abortion family planning care in Cambodia, based on results of the MObile Technology for Improved Family Planning (MOTIF) trial. METHODS A model was created to estimate the costs and effects of the intervention versus standard care. We adopted a societal perspective when estimating costs, including direct and indirect costs for users. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was calculated for the base case, as well as a deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis, which we compared against a range of likely cost-effectiveness thresholds. RESULTS The incremental cost of mobile phone-based support was estimated to be an additional $8,160.49 per 1000 clients, leading to an estimated 518 couple-years of protection gained per 1,000 clients and 99 disability adjusted life years averted. The Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) was $15.75 per additional Couple Year of Protection (CYP) and $82.57 per Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) averted. The model was most sensitive to personnel and mobile service costs. Assuming a range of cost-effectiveness thresholds of $58 to $176 for Cambodia, the probability of the intervention being cost-effective ranged from 11% to 95%. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that the cost-effectiveness of the intervention delivered by mobile phone studied in the MOTIF trial lies within the estimated range of cost-effectiveness thresholds for Cambodia. When assessing value in interventions to improve the uptake and adherence to family planning services, the use of interactive mobile phone messaging and counselling for women who have had an abortion should be considered as an option to policy makers. CLINICALTRIAL This study is a cost-effectiveness analysis of the intervention evaluated in the Mobile Technology for Improved Family Planning (MOTIF) trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01823861.

scholarly journals Validity of Using Mobile Phone Surveys to Evaluate Community Health Worker Program in Mali

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomeng Chen ◽  
Diwakar Mohan ◽  
Abdoulaye Maïga ◽  
Emily Frost ◽  
Djeneba Coulibaly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Family Planning Program ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Community Case Management ◽  
Planning Program ◽  
Integrated Community Case Management

Abstract BackgroundAssessing implementation strength through face-to-face interviews in hard-to-reach and unstable regions presents many challenges. Mobile phone-based interviews have become an alternative, but the validity of these data from this approach for Implementation Strength Assessment evaluation has not been sufficiently studied yet. The objective of this study was to assess the validity of mobile phone-based health provider interviews to measure the implementation strength of an integrated community case management (iCCM) and family planning program in Mali.MethodsFrom July to August 2018, interviewers administered a structured questionnaire to community health workers (ASCs) implementing the iCCM and family planning program in six districts in Mali. Interviews were conducted, first by phone, then verified through in-person visits. Survey questions addressed background information, training, supervision, demand generation activities and supplies of essential drugs and contraceptive methods. Sensitivity and specificity of the phone responses were calculated using the in-person response as the gold standard. A threshold of 80% for sensitivity and specificity respectively was considered acceptable.ResultsOf 157 ASCs interviewed by phone, 115 (73.2%) were reached in-person. Most indicators (9/10 iCCM indicators, 6/6 family planning indicators) for training, supervision, and availability of supplies on the day of interview, and those related to patient utilization reached the 80% threshold for sensitivity, but few (2/10 iCCM indicators, 1/6 family planning indicators) reached 80% for specificity. In contrast, most indicators of supply stock-outs in the last 3 months reached the threshold for specificity (5/6 iCCM indicators, 3/3 family planning indicators) but few reached the threshold for sensitivity (1/6 iCCM indicators, 1/3 family planning indicators).ConclusionsThe validity of data collected by phone were adequate for indicators of training, supervision, and day-of-interview commodity availability. Phone-based surveys are useful as a low-cost option for data collection in the assessment of implementation strength on general activities in inaccessible and resource-limited regions with mobile network connectivity.

scholarly journals Addition of mHealth (mobile health) for family planning support in Kenya: disparities in access to mobile phones and associations with contraceptive knowledge and use

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 463-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seohyun Lee ◽  
Charles E Begley ◽  
Robert Morgan ◽  
Wenyaw Chan ◽  
Sun-Young Kim
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Planning Support ◽  
Contraceptive Knowledge ◽  
Kenyan Women ◽  
Support Family

Abstract Background Recently mobile health (mHealth) has been implemented in Kenya to support family planning. Our objectives were to investigate disparities in mobile phone ownership and to examine the associations between exposure to family planning messages through mHealth (stand-alone or combined with other channels such as public forums, informational materials, health workers, social media and political/religious/community leaders’ advocacy) and contraceptive knowledge and use. Methods Logistic and Poisson regression models were used to analyze the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. Results Among 31 059 women, 86.7% had mobile phones and were more likely to have received higher education, have children ≤5 y of age and tended to be wealthier or married. Among 7397 women who were sexually active, owned a mobile phone and received family planning messages through at least one channel, 89.8% had no exposure to mHealth. mHealth alone was limited in improving contraceptive knowledge and use but led to intended outcomes when used together with four other channels compared with other channels only (knowledge: incidence rate ratio 1.084 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.063–1.106]; use: odds ratio 1.429 [95% CI 1.026–1.989]). Conclusions Socio-economic disparities existed in mobile phone ownership, and mHealth alone did not improve contraceptive knowledge and use among Kenyan women. However, mHealth still has potential for family planning when used with existing channels.

scholarly journals Validity of using mobile phone surveys to evaluate community health worker program in Mali

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomeng Chen ◽  
Diwakar Mohan ◽  
Abdoulaye Maïga ◽  
Emily Frost ◽  
Djeneba Coulibaly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Family Planning Program ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Modern Contraceptive ◽  
Planning Program ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Integrated Community Case Management

Abstract Background The monitoring and evaluation of public health programs based on traditional face-to-face interviews in hard-to-reach and unstable regions present many challenges. Mobile phone-based methods are considered to be an effective alternative, but the validity of mobile phone-based data for assessing implementation strength has not been sufficiently studied yet. Nested within an evaluation project for an integrated community case management (iCCM) and family planning program in Mali, this study aimed to assess the validity of a mobile phone-based health provider survey to measure the implementation strength of this program. Methods From July to August 2018, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among the community health workers (ASCs) from six rural districts working with the iCCM and family planning program. ASCs were first reached to complete the mobile phone-based survey; within a week, ASCs were visited in their communities to complete the in-person survey. Both surveys used identical implementation strength tools to collect data on program activities related to iCCM and family planning. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for each implementation strength indicator collected from the phone-based survey, with the in-person survey as the gold standard. A threshold of ≥ 80% for sensitivity and specificity was considered adequate for evaluation purposes. Results Of the 157 ASCs interviewed by mobile phone, 115 (73.2%) were reached in person. Most of the training (2/2 indicators), supervision (2/3), treatment/modern contraceptive supply (9/9), and reporting (3/3) indicators reached the 80% threshold for sensitivity, while only one supervision indicator and one supply indicator reached 80% for specificity. In contrast, most of the stock-out indicators (8/9) reached 80% for specificity, while only two indicators reached the threshold for sensitivity. Conclusions The validity of mobile phone-based data was adequate for general training, supervision, and supply indicators for iCCM and family planning. With sufficient mobile phone coverage and reliable mobile network connection, mobile phone-based surveys are useful as an alternative for data collection to assess the implementation strength of general activities in hard-to-reach areas.

scholarly journals Testing the validity and feasibility of using a mobile phone-based method to assess the strength of implementation of family planning programs in Malawi

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anooj Pattnaik ◽  
Diwakar Mohan ◽  
Sam Chipokosa ◽  
Sautso Wachepa ◽  
Hans Katengeza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Family Planning Programs

scholarly journals Formative study of mobile phone usage for family planning amongst young people in Sierra Leone: A global systematic survey (Preprint)

10.2196/23874 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emeka Chukwu ◽  
Sonia Gilroy ◽  
Abiodun Oyeyipo ◽  
Kojo Addaquay ◽  
Nki Nafisa Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Young People ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Systematic Survey ◽  
Mobile Phone Usage
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