Cell phone usage among adolescents in Uganda: acceptability for relaying health information

Abstract

The increase in cell phone use has manifested a growing interest in using this technology for health promotion. The portability and 'always on' features of the cell phone, along with increasing capability for the devices to carry and transfer data suggest that they will reach more people than computers and the Internet in coming years. Self-reported quantitative survey data from 1503 secondary school students in Mbarara, Uganda collected in 2008-2009 suggest that 27% currently have cell phones and about half (51%) of all students and 61% of those who owned a cell phone believe that they would access a text messaging-based HIV prevention program if it were available. Other forms of program delivery modality (e.g. Internet, religious organizations, schools) were preferred to text messaging however. We are in need of effective HIV prevention programs that can reach large audiences at low cost and are culturally relevant for the East African context. Researchers are encouraged to consider translation of effective HIV prevention programs for cell phone delivery in Africa.

Integrating mHealth into adolescent sexual and reproductive health promotion in Nigeria: prospects and barriers

“…16 Studies have shown that young people including adolescents in Nigeria and other developing countries are willing to access SRH information through mobile phones. [17][18][19] This could benefit adolescents in developing countries who are disadvantaged in terms of their access to SRH information and services.…”

“…An example of this is the face-to-face health education programs in schools or health centres which could be reinforced using SMS. 18,58 Although SMS and calls are used in mHealth SRH programmes, the SMS is more commonly used due to its advantages over calls. 7…”

“…17,68 Mhealth for ASRH promotion has the potential of being available across socio-economic and gender divide, as well as to "in" and "out-of-school" adolescents, hence promoting equity. 18 Social acceptability may be considered as very favourable.…”

Reproductive Health Information Needs and Access Among Rural Women in Nigeria: A Study of Nsukka Zone in Enugu State

“…Mitchell, Bull, Kiwanuka and Ybarra (2011), in a study of secondary students in Uganda, found that 61% of students agreed that they can access text messages from their phones for the prevention of HIV/AIDS, an indication of the increasing use of m-health in Uganda. Lester et al (2010) found that patients using text messaging, through their mobile phones, linked to their antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, had significantly greater ART adherence rates and rates of viral suppression compared to patients not usign the text-messagingt service.…”

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

“…The concurrent emergence of low-cost, easy-to-use mobile health (mHealth) applications like telephone-based short-messaging services (SMS) and chat applications like WhatsApp have facilitated a variety of new interventions to enhance communication between patients and health-care providers. While communicating health information via mobile phones seems to be acceptable [3][4][5], mHealth studies have reported varying levels of success at improving patient wellbeing and clinical outcomes [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Potential explanations for this variability may arise from a failure to plan for, collect, or report key process measures important for characterizing the implementation of mHealth interventions.…”