scholarly journals A digital health intervention to increase health knowledge related to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis in Iringa, Tanzania: Protocol of a mixed-method study (Preprint)

10.2196/25128 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Holst ◽  
Felix Sukums ◽  
Bernard Ngowi ◽  
Lien My Diep ◽  
Tewodros Aragie Kebede ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Holst ◽  
Felix Sukums ◽  
Bernard Ngowi ◽  
Lien My Diep ◽  
Tewodros Aragie Kebede ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Health promotion and health education have traditionally been given to communities in the global south in the form of leaflets or orally by healthcare workers. Digital health interventions (DHIs) such as digital health messages accessed with, for example, smartphones have the potential to reach more people at a lower cost and to contribute to strengthening of the healthcare system. The DHI in this study is focused on disseminating digital health education on three disease complexes of high public health concern, i.e. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Taenia solium (neuro)cysticercosis/taeniosis (TSCT), a parasitic zoonotic disease that requires a Health One approach to combat. The DHI presents the participants with animated health videos (animations) and provides access to internet hotspots in rural Tanzanian communities, with a freely accessible digital health platform containing messages about health. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to measure the effect of the DHI on health knowledge uptake and retention over time in the rural communities. METHODS This is a mixed-method study including a non-randomized, controlled trial and qualitative interviews, conducted in rural Tanzania, in which the DHI is being implemented. A health platform containing digital health messages to the communities was developed prior to the study. The health messages comprise text, pictures, quizzes and animations of everyday stories, aiming at disease prevention and early treatment. The baseline and immediate-after assessment was completed in Iringa, Tanzania in 2019. The participants were interviewed by enumerators and completed questionnaires with questions regarding health knowledge. Participants in the intervention group were exposed to three health animations once, on a tablet device. The participants’ health knowledge was immediately assessed again after exposure. The first follow-up survey was undertaken in August 2019. The internet hotspots with the health platform were thereafter rolled out in the intervention villages in November 2019. Qualitative interviews were undertaken in February 2020. The second follow-up was completed in June 2020. RESULTS A total of 600 participants have been enrolled in the trial. We will assess 1) the difference in knowledge scores between baseline and immediate-after in the intervention group, 2) the difference in knowledge scores between the groups on the changes from baseline to 3 and 6 months post DHI rollout. As a randomised design was not feasible, potential confounders, e.g. age, gender, education and time from exposure, may be introduced, for which results will be adjusted. Data analysis for the 35 qualitative interviews is currently ongoing, where perspectives and experiences related to use and non-use of the hotspots are being explored. CONCLUSIONS This is an ongoing digital health study, aiming at evaluating the effects of a DHI based on relevant health messages, of which published results can be expected next year. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03808597; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03808597


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Holst ◽  
Ghislain Maurice Norbert Isabwe ◽  
Felix Sukums ◽  
Helena Ngowi ◽  
Flora Kajuna ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Health workers have traditionally delivered health promotion and education to rural communities in the Global South in paper leaflet formats or orally. With the rise of digital technologies, health promotion and education can be provided in innovative and more effective formats, which are believed to have a higher impact on disease prevention and treatment. OBJECTIVE Using a multidisciplinary approach, the objective of this project was to develop short and simple digital health educational messages for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis and anthrax for rural communities in Tanzania. METHODS The multidisciplinary team of the Non-discriminating Access for Digital Inclusion (DigI) project digitalised and customised available government-approved paper-based health promotion messages into a screen suitable format. The team worked closely together and utilised its diverse expertise to develop the digital health messages with disease-specific content, in Tanzania's national language (Swahili) as well as English. The development process included the following phases: 1) a local needs assessment; 2) identification of government-approved health promotion materials in a non-digital format; 3) identification of key health messages for each of the five relevant domains (prevalence, cause/transmission, signs/symptoms, treatment and prevention); 4) creation of a practical and engaging story, easy to understand for the general public; 5) drafting of a storyboard for an animated video with review, feedback and revisions; 6) forward and backward translation from English to Swahili; 7) audio recording of the story in both languages; 8) finalisation and presentation for the animations; 9) development of relevant quiz questions related to the health messages in each domain; and 10) development of web and mobile applications to access the digital health messages. RESULTS Between 2017 and 2019, we developed key health messages, quizzes and animated health videos to address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis and anthrax, which are all of public health importance in Tanzania. The four videos and other contents are available on a digital health platform (DigI platform), established by the DigI project, in both Swahili and English. CONCLUSIONS Our methodological multidisciplinary approach ensures that the digital health messages for the public are clear, high quality and align with the government objectives for health promotion. It also demonstrates the diversity of scientific disciplines required when collaborating on a digital health project. We recommend this approach to be applied to the development of other digital health messages for a wide range of diseases. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-25128


2022 ◽  
Vol 0 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sujata Ramchandra Lavangare ◽  
Prabhadevi Ravichandran

Objectives: According to WHO, Palliative care is an essential component of a comprehensive package of care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Lack of palliative care results in untreated symptoms that hamper an individual’s ability to perform daily activities. The study aimed to explore the perceived Palliative care needs of People Living With HIV/AIDS and the association between socio- demographic profile with Palliative care needs. Materials and Methods: It was a mixed method study conducted over 2 months in November and December 2020 at Link ART OPD of Urban Health Training Centre in Mumbai. Out of 120 registered patients,15 patients were selected for in-depth interview by purposive sampling. The remaining 105 patients were selected for quantitative part of the study by complete enumeration method. For Qualitative part, Thematic analysis of the transcripts was done. Data were coded using Microsoft word comment feature. Themes and categories were drawn from it. For Quantitative part, Data analysis was done using SPSS version 22. Chi- square test was applied to find out the association between socio- demographic profile & palliative care needs. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The major themes identified were poor attitude towards the disease, lack of support and role of counselling. The common palliative care needs identified were need for financial assistance, family support and psychological support. Conclusions: Palliative care should be introduced early in the care process by a team of providers who is aware of the patient’s history and requirements.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. e240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Guendelman ◽  
Andrew Broderick ◽  
Hmellisa Mlo ◽  
Alison Gemmill ◽  
David Lindeman

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Martinez Alpizar ◽  
Patricia Cabral ◽  
Mohena Moreno ◽  
Nouha H. Hallak ◽  
Luciana Lagana

2012 ◽  
Vol 74 (08/09) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Holmberg ◽  
G Sarganas ◽  
N Mittring ◽  
V Braun ◽  
L Dini ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Abu Yazid Abu Bakar ◽  
Dayang Nurfaezah Abang Ahmad ◽  
Melor Md Yunus

Research has shown that using graphic novels in the classroom is one of useful approaches to promote the understanding of learners especially for lengthy and difficult literature texts. This study reports the extent of graphic novel in facilitating students’ understanding of literature and the students’ perceptions towards using graphic novel in learning literature (L2) as compared to other genre of texts. This is a mixed method study which employs quantitative and qualitative methods to obtain data. The findings indicate that most students found that graphic novel helped them to enrich their vocabularies and understand the text better. The findings also reveal that students were attracted to the illustrations in the literature text in which this helps to boost their motivation to learn literature in the classroom. The findings provide useful insights for English as Second Language (ESL) teachers in incorporating and expanding the literature learning through graphic novels in the future. The findings also imply the need of ESL teachers to use graphic novels effectively in facilitating their teaching and learning of literature in L2 classrooms particularly to suit the 21<sup>st</sup> century teaching and learning.


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