Mothers Intention to Use Mobile Phone Text Message Reminders for Routine Child Vaccination in Northwest, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: The immunization program in most developing countries including Ethiopia is challenged by lack of effective methods to track vaccination schedules. With the unprecedented penetration of mobile devices in developing world, mHealth applications are being leveraged for different disease domains. Among the different factors that affect the use of mHealth interventions is the intention of end users to use the system. In this research, we aimed to fill the evidence gap by investigating mother’s intention to use text-message reminders for vaccination in north-west, Ethiopia.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 mothers presenting with their infants for vaccination at a health facility from October 1 to 26, 2018. A systematic random sampling technique was applied to select study participants. Data were collected using validated instrument. Descriptive statistics were computed and binary logistic regression analyses was used to assess factors associated with the outcome variable. The regression results were reported as AORs with their 95% CIs. Results: Of 456 mothers included for analysis, 360 (78.9%) with 95% CI: (74.9% - 82.4%) of mothers have intention to use mobile phone text message reminders for vaccination. Of these, 270 (75%) also wanted to receive the reminders a day before the vaccination due date for the child. The preferred language for receiving reminders was Amharic language (58.1%). Mothers aged 35 years and above [AOR = 0.352; 95%CI: 0.149- 0.833], secondary education and above [AOR= 4.428; 95% CI: 2.046- 9.580], mobile phone use for more than two years [AOR= 3.627; 95%CI: 1.657-7.938], perceived usefulness [AOR: 6.372; 95%CI: 3.128-12.981] and perceived ease of use [AOR: 3.847; 95%CI: 2.061- 7.180] were predictors of intention to use mobile phone text message reminders for vaccination.Conclusion: Majority of mothers have intention to use mobile phone text message reminders for child vaccination. Mother’s age, education, duration of mobile phone use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use were associated with intention of mothers to use mobile phone text message reminders for vaccination. Considering these predictors and user’s preference could inform the implementation strategy for use of the mHealth supported text messaging interventions in the resource limited setting of Ethiopia.

Willingness to Receive mHealth Services Among Patients with Diabetes on Chronic Follow-up in Public Hospitals in Eastern Ethiopia: Multicenter Mixed-Method Study

“…This finding is in line with previous studies. 25,27,[33][34][35] The findings suggest that younger age groups are the most suitable for adopting mHealth services because they are more exposed to technology than older people.…”