Role of mHealth applications for improving antenatal and postnatal care in low and middle income countries: a systematic review

Feroz, Anam Shahil; Perveen, Shazia; Aftab, Wafa

doi:10.1186/s12913-017-2664-7

Cited by 153 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…SMS for Life was built within the national malaria control programme and failed to consolidate and communicate with other programmes or departments (e.g. MSD, HMIS Department) (25)(26)(27). In the early days of digital health, this was a common shortcoming where many digital health solutions were developed in isolation and focussed on a single challenge (25,28,29).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complexity of scaling up an mHealth intervention. SMS for Life: A Case Study from a Health Systems Integration Perspective

Fruchtman

Mbuyita

Mwanyika‐Sando

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background The objective of this study was to apply systems thinking to examine the opportunities and challenges of scaling up and integrating a new electronic health technology into a complex health system. We used the implementation cycle of the supply chain management solution (SMS for Life 1.0) in Tanzania as a case study. SMS for Life was one of the earliest large-scale implementations of mHealth innovations worldwide. It aimed to bring visibility to antimalarial stock-outs through the use of SMS technology.Methods A qualitative case-study approach was used. This included a literature review, a document review of 61 project documents, a timeline of key events and the collection and analysis of 28 interviews with key stakeholders involved in or affected by the SMS for Life programme. Using the WHO mHealth Assessment and Planning for Scale (MAPS) Toolkit as a framework, we carried out a joint thematic analysis and identified the key reasons for the discontinuation of the programme.Results SMS for Life was reliable at scale and raised awareness of stock-outs with real-time monitoring. However, it was discontinued in 2015 after four years of a national rollout. The main reasons identified for the discontinuation were the programme’s failure to adapt to the continuous changes in Tanzania’s health system, the focus on stock-outs rather than ensuring appropriate stock management, and that it was perceived as costly by policy-makers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complexity of scaling up an mHealth intervention. SMS for Life: A Case Study from a Health Systems Integration Perspective

Fruchtman

Mbuyita

Mwanyika‐Sando

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…mHealth involves the use of mobile technologies and multimedia tools to accomplish health goals and support healthcare delivery [3]. Many LMICs have attained substantial level of cell phone penetration (over 90%) in the recent years [4,5]. On account of rapid expansion of cell phone ownership and mobile phone penetration in LMICs, the novel field of mHealth has gained much progress and it is being used rapidly in hundreds of diverse health-related projects [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle income countries: A systematic review

Feroz¹,

Ali²,

Khoja³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Globally, reproductive health programs have used mHealth to provide sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education and services to young people, through diverse communication channels. However, few attempts have been made to systematically review the mHealth programs targeted to improve young people SRH in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). This review aims to identify a range of different mHealth solutions which can be used for improving young people SRH in LMICs and highlight facilitators and barriers for adopting mHealth interventions designed to target SRH of young people. Methods: Databases including PubMed, CINAHL Plus, Science Direct, Cochrane and grey literature were searched between January 01, 2005 and March 31, 2018 to identify various types of mHealth interventions that are used to improve SRH services for young people in LMICs. Of 2,181 titles screened after duplication, 207 potentially relevant abstracts were obtained. Out of 207 abstracts, 70 abstracts were shortlisted. Full text of 70 studies were reviewed using a pre-defined data extraction sheet. A total of 11 full text studies were included in the final analysis. Results: The final 11studies were categorized into three main mHealth applications including; client education and behavior change communication, data collection and reporting and financial transactions and incentives. The most reported use of mHealth was for client education and behavior change communication [n = 10, 91%]. This categorization provided the understanding that the potential of other mHealth applications has yet to be explored. Most studies showed, that mHealth interventions have proven to be effective in improving SRH services and outcomes through addressing barriers of provider prejudice, stigmatization, discrimination, fear of refusal, lack of privacy and confidentiality. Yet, the review also identified barriers to uptake of mHealth interventions for SRH including decreased technological literacy, inferior network coverage, and lower linguistic competency. Conclusion: The review provides detailed information about the implementation of mobile phones at different levels of healthcare system for improving young people SRH outcomes. This systematic review recommends that barriers to uptake mHealth interventions be adequately addressed to increase the potential use of mobile phones for improving access to SRH awareness and services.

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“…In this context, mHealth offers a personalised and interactive tool aimed at promoting healthcare access and awareness [3,4]. mHealth has the potential to strengthen the public sector for optimal management of chronic conditions and improvement of maternal and child health (MCH) services [5][6][7]. In addition to promoting health education among patients and reducing waiting times and cost of healthcare delivery, mHealth enhances patient support, providing a system for emergency response and monitoring [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Systematic reviews support the value of mHealth applications as an effective tool to improve MCH related outcomes as a key step towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 3 [7,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. mHealth has shown to improve health education, facilitate service utilisation, increase clinic attendance, and promote health-seeking behaviour [12,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining the impact of mHealth on maternal and child health care in low- and middle-income countries: A theory-driven scoping review

Kabongo¹,

Mukumbang²,

N³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract Introduction Despite the growing global application of mobile health (mHealth) technology in maternal and child health, the contextual factors and mechanisms by which interventional outcomes are generated have not been subjected to extensive review. In this study, we sought to identify context, mechanisms and outcome elements from implementation and evaluation studies of mHealth interventions to formulate theories or models explicating how mHealth interventions work (or not) both for health care providers and for pregnant women and new mothers.Method An electronic search of six online databases (Medline, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Academic Search Premier and Health Systems Evidence) was performed. Using appropriate MeSH terms and selection procedure, 32 articles were considered for analysis. A theory-driven approach, narrative synthesis, was applied to synthesise the data. Thematic content analysis was used to delineate the elements of the intervention, including its context, actors, mechanism and outcomes. Retroduction was applied to link these elements using a realist evaluation heuristic to form generative theories.Results Mechanisms that promote the implementation of mHealth by community health workers/health care providers include motivation, perceived skill and knowledge improvement, improved self-efficacy, improved confidence, improved relationship between community health workers and clients, perceived support of community health workers, perceived ease of use and usefulness of mHealth, For pregnant women and new mothers, mechanisms that trigger the uptake of mHealth and use of maternal and child health services included: perceived service satisfaction, perceived knowledge acquisition, support and confidence, improved self-efficacy, encouragement, empowerment and motivation. Information overload was identified as a potential negative mechanism for the uptake of maternal and child health services.Conclusion The models developed in this study provide a detailed understanding of the implementation and uptake of mHealth interventions and how they improve maternal and child health services in low and middle income countries. These models provide a foundation for the ‘white box’ or theory-driven evaluation of mHealth intervention and can improve the rollout and implementation where required.

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Role of mHealth applications for improving antenatal and postnatal care in low and middle income countries: a systematic review

Cited by 153 publications

References 30 publications

The complexity of scaling up an mHealth intervention. SMS for Life: A Case Study from a Health Systems Integration Perspective

The complexity of scaling up an mHealth intervention. SMS for Life: A Case Study from a Health Systems Integration Perspective

Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle income countries: A systematic review

Explaining the impact of mHealth on maternal and child health care in low- and middle-income countries: A theory-driven scoping review

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