Mobile Phone Messaging to Husbands to Improve Maternal and Child Health Behavior in India

Abstract

Over 90% of households in rural Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India, have at least one mobile phone. However, ownership of mobile phone among women is quite low. Implementation research was conducted in Uttar Pradesh to examine (a) whether providing information on selected maternal and child health (MCH) behaviors to a husband's mobile phone would enhance the man's knowledge and lead to discussions in their family, and (b) whether such discussions would help in the adoption of healthy practices. The m-Health intervention included biweekly voice messages in local language (Hindi) on MCH topics to the mobile phone of pregnant women's husbands. Using a quasi-experimental design, after four months of the m-Health intervention, in 2014, 881 husbands and 956 women from the study area were interviewed. Husbands' knowledge, controlling for their socio-demographic characteristics, were significantly higher among the listeners of the messages than the non-listeners. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that if husbands discussed the messages with family members, the odds of wives' practicing health behaviors improved significantly for three behaviors. These include one antenatal checkup in last trimester of pregnancy (odds ratio 1.72, p < 0.05), receiving a postnatal checkup within 7 days of delivery (odds ratio 3.02, p < 0.05), and delayed bathing of newborn (odds ratio 1.93, p < 0.05). Thus, communicating messages using m-Health was found to be an effective intervention for behavior change. The study demonstrated that mobile phones can be used effectively to reach men with MCH information and encourage them to promote healthy behavior in their family.

Use of mobile phones for behavior change communication to improve maternal, newborn and child health: a scoping review

“…Datta et al found high acceptance of SMS as a delivery channel for MNCH messages in rural India, and knowledge improved after participants received one message per day for ten days [45]. A quasi-experimental study in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, found that mothers whose husbands received and discussed IVR messages were more likely to visit the ANC in the third trimester and to have a postnatal visit within seven days (OR = 1.72; OR = 3.02; P < 0.05 for both) [46]. However, only 34% of participating husbands received the IVR messages as they could not accept the calls while at work [46].…”

“…A quasi-experimental study in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, found that mothers whose husbands received and discussed IVR messages were more likely to visit the ANC in the third trimester and to have a postnatal visit within seven days (OR = 1.72; OR = 3.02; P < 0.05 for both) [46]. However, only 34% of participating husbands received the IVR messages as they could not accept the calls while at work [46]. A pilot study of an IVR service delivering seven messages within the first month postpartum in Cambodia reported high acceptability, with 60% of survey participants indicating willingness to pay for the service [47].…”

Adoption of Mobile Phone Messages for Delivery and Newborn Care in Bangladesh

“…Along with technological support, husband's endorsement of the service is crucial for availing the phone and support for entire period of child birth. A study in India found that there were improved pre-and postnatal visits and adherence to newborn babies' delayed bathing among women whose husbands passed on information from the voice messages (Hazra, Khan, & Mondal, 2018). We suggest that husbands should be encouraged to access the service during enrollment, to share information with their wives and to consult the hotline service for delivery emergencies and neonatal complications, especially in low-income households where women are not confident with using technology (Alam et al, 2019).…”

A Mobile Phone-based Multimedia Application Could Improve Maternal Health in Rural Southwestern Uganda: Mixed Methods Study

“…However, these studies have mainly utilized SMS texts, benefit women who can read and write while leaving out illiterate women who are, in most cases, more prone to maternal health problems. The use of biweekly voice messages in local language (with maternal and child health contents) which were sent to the mobile phone of pregnant women's spouses motivated mothers to visit antenatal postnatal clinics in India [22]. In Uganda, 33.7% of women of 25 years and above have never been to school, while 41.2% only completed some primary level education [23].…”