Response patterns to interactive SMS health education quizzes at two sites in Uganda: a cohort study

Abstract

Abstractobjective The use of mobile phones can improve and strengthen (preventive) health care in lowand middle-income countries. We aimed to retrospectively assess the response patterns of participants in free SMS health education quizzes in Uganda.methods Study participants were employees of two companies and their community networks. We investigated how quickly individuals responded to quiz question(s) and assessed possible influencing factors. Cox regression and ANOVA analyses were used.results Fifty percentage of responders answered within 50 min. The response chance declined with every additional day after sending an incentive via SMS (Hazard Ratio 0.993, CI 95% 0.981-0.984). Quiz topics influenced both participation rates and response time. Response time was shortest for questions on HIV and sexual behaviour. Response rates were high for HIV (79%) and malaria (78.4%), but only 37.4% for demographic topics. Network providers had a substantial effect on response behaviour.conclusion Interactive SMS programs are a fast method to reach the target population and incentives increase response rates. The most important factor influencing response time and participation rate is the network provider. Future research should focus on developing evidence-based guidelines for the design, implementation and evaluation of SMS-based interventions.

Mobile Phone Surveys for Collecting Population-Level Estimates in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Literature Review

“…[30,31] Demographic information regarding the users of these platforms was not included thus making it difficult to assess the representativeness of respondents. Two studies attempted to achieve a subnational sample through opt-in recruitment, potentially introducing selection bias [32,33]. Numerous studies used SMS and IVR surveys as a data collection tool within a research study [34-54] or as a surveillance instrument for health care workers [55-59] and were excluded from the review.…”

Text Messages Sent to Household Tuberculosis Contacts in Kampala, Uganda: Process Evaluation (Preprint)

“…While a previous study in Uganda reported a 70% response rate to SMS containing health education quizzes [31], another large study conducted in northern Uganda involving a one-time SMS intervention found that only 23% responded, similar to what we observed in our study [32]. Although a widely cited systematic review has previously shown that two-way SMS are more effective than one-way SMS in engaging patients [33], the focus of that review was on longitudinal SMS interventions for medication adherence, not on responses to a one-time communication.…”

“…Previous studies have shown higher levels of engagement when utilizing serial messaging and two-way communications [6,7,34,35], rather than one-time messaging. Including quizzes or trivia may also improve participant response rates [31]. These strategies, along with more personalized SMS content [21], may increase participant engagement.…”

“…Median age among adult participants was 27 years of age (interquartile range (IQR) [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Step 2: SMS Received…”

Improving care-seeking for facility-based health services in a rural, resource-limited setting: Effects and potential of an mHealth project

“…Moreover, there is insufficient evidence on facilitators and barriers to the use of mobile phones for health-related needs (Chib, Wilkin and Hoefman 2011). Besides inadequate knowledge of how the new service works and what benefits are of using it (Marwa et al 2013), reasons for non-use of mobile phones have been linked to privacy concerns and network coverage (Chib et al 2012;Lepper et al 2013).…”