Freedom HIV/AIDS : Mobile phone games for health communication and behavior change

BACKGROUND In resource-poor settings, lack of awareness and low demand for services constitute important barriers to expanding the coverage of effective interventions. In India, childhood immunization is a priority health strategy with suboptimal uptake. OBJECTIVE To assess study feasibility and key implementation outcomes for the Tika Vaani model, a new approach to educate and empower beneficiaries to improve immunization and child health. METHODS A cluster-randomized pilot trial with a 1:1 allocation ratio was conducted in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, from January to September 2018. Villages were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. In each participating village, surveyors conducted a complete enumeration to identify eligible households and requested participation before randomization. Interventions were designed through formative research using a social marketing approach and delivered over 3 months using strategies adapted to disadvantaged populations: (1) mobile health (mHealth): entertaining educational audio capsules (edutainment) and voice immunization reminders via mobile phone and (2) face-to-face: community mobilization activities, including 3 small group meetings offered to each participant. The control group received usual services. The main outcomes were prespecified criteria for feasibility of the main study (recruitment, randomization, retention, contamination, and adoption). Secondary endpoints tested equity of coverage and changes in intermediate outcomes. Statistical methods included descriptive statistics to assess feasibility, penalized logistic regression and ordered logistic regression to assess coverage, and generalized estimating equation models to assess changes in intermediate outcomes. RESULTS All villages consented to participate. Gaps in administrative data hampered recruitment; 14.0% (79/565) of recorded households were nonresident. Only 1.4% (8/565) of households did not consent. A total of 387 households (184 intervention and 203 control) with children aged 0 to 12 months in 26 villages (13 intervention and 13 control) were included and randomized. The end line survey occurred during the flood season; 17.6% (68/387) of the households were absent. Contamination was less than 1%. Participation in one or more interventions was 94.0% (173/184), 78.3% (144/184) for the face-to-face strategy, and 67.4% (124/184) for the mHealth strategy. Determinants including place of residence, mobile phone access, education, and female empowerment shaped intervention use; factors operated differently for face-to-face and mHealth strategies. For 11 of 13 intermediate outcomes, regression results showed significantly higher basic health knowledge among the intervention group, supporting hypothesized causal mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS A future trial of a new intervention model is feasible. The interventions could strengthen the delivery of immunization and universal primary health care. Social and behavior change communication via mobile phones proved viable and contributed to standardization and scalability. Face-to-face interactions remain necessary to achieve equity and reach, suggesting the need for ongoing health system strengthening to accompany the introduction of communication technologies. CLINICALTRIAL International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 44840759; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN44840759

Download Full-text

Visualizing Social and Behavior Change due to the Outbreak of COVID-19 Using Mobile Phone Location Data

New Generation Computing ◽

10.1007/s00354-021-00139-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Takayuki Mizuno ◽

Takaaki Ohnishi ◽

Tsutomu Watanabe

Keyword(s):

Behavior Change ◽

Mobile Phone ◽

Shopping Centers ◽

Residential Areas ◽

Night Time ◽

Location Data ◽

The Difference ◽

And Behavior

AbstractWe visualize the rates of stay-home for residents by region using the difference between day-time and night-time populations to detect residential areas, and then observing the numbers of people leaving residential areas. There are issues with measuring stay-home rates by observing numbers of people visiting downtown areas, such as central urban shopping centers and major train stations. The first is that we cannot eliminate the possibility that people will avoid areas being observed and go to other areas. The second is that for people visiting downtown areas, we cannot know where they reside. These issues can be resolved if we quantify the degree of stay-home using the number of people leaving residential areas. There are significant differences in stay-home levels by region throughout Japan. By this visualization, residents of each region can see whether their level of stay-home is adequate or not, and this can provide incentive toward compliance suited to the residents of the region.

Download Full-text

Digital games for international development: A field theory perspective

International Communication Gazette ◽

10.1177/1748048518814358 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 81 (6-8) ◽

pp. 707-726 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jolene Fisher

Keyword(s):

Field Theory ◽

Behavior Change ◽

Mobile Phone ◽

International Development ◽

Serious Games ◽

Digital Games ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Theory Of Practice ◽

And Behavior ◽

Depth Interviews

While serious games have been used within the field of international development since 2005, their adoption as tools for social and behavior change has remained fairly limited. Using Bourdieu’s theory of practice as an analytical framework, this study examines the tensions created when the fields of international development and serious games are brought together. In-depth interviews with development practitioners and game experts responsible for creating the nonprofit Half the Sky Movement’s mobile phone and Facebook games are used to examine how logistical considerations and ideological conflicts between agents from differing fields shape the limitations and possibilities of bringing games into the development space. Further, this study analyzes the new forms of Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capital created through this overlap in fields, filling an existing gap in the extant literature on the production and use of games for international development.

Download Full-text

Social and Behavior Change Communication Interventions Delivered Face-to-Face and by a Mobile Phone to Strengthen Vaccination Uptake and Improve Child Health in Rural India: Randomized Pilot Study

JMIR mhealth and uhealth ◽

10.2196/20356 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (9) ◽

pp. e20356 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mira Johri ◽

Dinesh Chandra ◽

Karna Georges Kone ◽

Marie-Pierre Sylvestre ◽

Alok K Mathur ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Child Health ◽

Behavior Change ◽

Mobile Phone ◽

Control Group ◽

Behavior Change Communication ◽

Face To Face ◽

Change Communication ◽

Intermediate Outcomes ◽

And Behavior

Background In resource-poor settings, lack of awareness and low demand for services constitute important barriers to expanding the coverage of effective interventions. In India, childhood immunization is a priority health strategy with suboptimal uptake. Objective To assess study feasibility and key implementation outcomes for the Tika Vaani model, a new approach to educate and empower beneficiaries to improve immunization and child health. Methods A cluster-randomized pilot trial with a 1:1 allocation ratio was conducted in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, from January to September 2018. Villages were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. In each participating village, surveyors conducted a complete enumeration to identify eligible households and requested participation before randomization. Interventions were designed through formative research using a social marketing approach and delivered over 3 months using strategies adapted to disadvantaged populations: (1) mobile health (mHealth): entertaining educational audio capsules (edutainment) and voice immunization reminders via mobile phone and (2) face-to-face: community mobilization activities, including 3 small group meetings offered to each participant. The control group received usual services. The main outcomes were prespecified criteria for feasibility of the main study (recruitment, randomization, retention, contamination, and adoption). Secondary endpoints tested equity of coverage and changes in intermediate outcomes. Statistical methods included descriptive statistics to assess feasibility, penalized logistic regression and ordered logistic regression to assess coverage, and generalized estimating equation models to assess changes in intermediate outcomes. Results All villages consented to participate. Gaps in administrative data hampered recruitment; 14.0% (79/565) of recorded households were nonresident. Only 1.4% (8/565) of households did not consent. A total of 387 households (184 intervention and 203 control) with children aged 0 to 12 months in 26 villages (13 intervention and 13 control) were included and randomized. The end line survey occurred during the flood season; 17.6% (68/387) of the households were absent. Contamination was less than 1%. Participation in one or more interventions was 94.0% (173/184), 78.3% (144/184) for the face-to-face strategy, and 67.4% (124/184) for the mHealth strategy. Determinants including place of residence, mobile phone access, education, and female empowerment shaped intervention use; factors operated differently for face-to-face and mHealth strategies. For 11 of 13 intermediate outcomes, regression results showed significantly higher basic health knowledge among the intervention group, supporting hypothesized causal mechanisms. Conclusions A future trial of a new intervention model is feasible. The interventions could strengthen the delivery of immunization and universal primary health care. Social and behavior change communication via mobile phones proved viable and contributed to standardization and scalability. Face-to-face interactions remain necessary to achieve equity and reach, suggesting the need for ongoing health system strengthening to accompany the introduction of communication technologies. Trial Registration International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 44840759; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN44840759

Download Full-text