OBJECTIVE: Many mobile phone resources have been developed to increase access to health education in the developing world, yet few studies have compared these resources or quantified their performance in a resource-limited setting. This study aims to compare the performance of resident physicians in answering clinical scenarios using PubMed abstracts accessed via the PubMed for Handhelds (PubMed4Hh) website versus medical/drug reference applications (Medical Apps) accessed via software on the mobile phone.
METHODS: A two-arm comparative study with crossover design was conducted. Subjects, who were resident physicians at the University of Botswana, completed eight scenarios, each with multi-part questions. The primary outcome was a grade for each question. The primary independent variable was the intervention arm and other independent variables included residency and question.
RESULTS: Within each question type there were significant differences in 'percentage correct' between Medical Apps and PubMed4Hh for three of the six types of questions: drug-related, diagnosis/definitions, and treatment/management. Within each of these question types, Medical Apps had a higher percentage of fully correct responses than PubMed4Hh (63% vs 13%, 33% vs 12%, and 41% vs 13%, respectively). PubMed4Hh performed better for epidemiologic questions.
CONCLUSIONS: While mobile access to primary literature remains important and serves an information niche, mobile applications with condensed content may be more appropriate for point-of-care information needs. Further research is required to examine the specific information needs of clinicians in resource-limited settings and to evaluate the appropriateness of current resources in bridging location- and context-specific information gaps.
BACKGROUND: The efficacy of antiretroviral therapy depends on patient adherence to a daily medication regimen, yet many patients fail to adhere at high enough rates to maintain health and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV. Given the explosive global growth of cellular-mobile phone use, text-messaging interventions to promote adherence are especially appropriate. This meta-analysis synthesized available text messaging interventions to promote antiretroviral therapy adherence in people living with HIV.
METHODS: We performed Boolean searches of electronic databases, hand searches of recent year conference abstracts and reverse searches. Included studies (1) targeted antiretroviral therapy adherence in a sample of people living with HIV, (2) used a randomized-controlled trial design to examine a text messaging intervention, and (3) reported at least one adherence measurement or clinical outcome.
RESULTS: Eight studies, including 9 interventions, met inclusion criteria. Text-messaging interventions yielded significantly higher adherence than control conditions (OR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.18, 1.64). Sensitivity analyses of intervention characteristics suggested that studies had larger effects when interventions (1) were sent less frequently than daily, (2) supported bidirectional communication, (3) included personalized message content, and (4) were matched to participants' antiretroviral therapy dosing schedule. Interventions were also associated with improved viral load and/or CD4+ count (k = 3; OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.11, 2.20).
CONCLUSIONS: Text-messaging can support antiretroviral therapy adherence. Researchers should consider the adoption of less frequent messaging interventions with content and timing that is individually tailored and designed to evoke a reply from the recipient. Future research is needed in order to determine how best to optimize efficacy.
INTRODUCTION: Research has shown that mHealth initiatives, or health programs enhanced by mobile phone technologies, can foster women's empowerment. Yet, there is growing concern that mobile-based programs geared towards women may exacerbate gender inequalities.
METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted to examine the empirical evidence of changes in men and women's interactions as a result of mHealth interventions. To be eligible, studies had to have been published in English from 2002 to 2012, conducted in a developing country, included an evaluation of a mobile health intervention, and presented findings on resultant dynamics between women and men. The search strategy comprised four electronic bibliographic databases in addition to a manual review of the reference lists of relevant articles and a review of organizational websites and journals with recent mHealth publications. The methodological rigor of selected studies was appraised by two independent reviewers who also abstracted data on the study's characteristics. Iterative thematic analyses were used to synthesize findings relating to gender-transformative and non-transformative experiences.
RESULTS: Out of the 173 articles retrieved for review, seven articles met the inclusion criteria and were retained in the final analysis. Most mHealth interventions were SMS-based and conducted in sub-Saharan Africa on topics relating to HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, health-based microenterprise, and non-communicable diseases. Several methodological limitations were identified among eligible quantitative and qualitative studies. The current literature suggests that mobile phone programs can influence gender relations in meaningfully positive ways by providing new modes for couple's health communication and cooperation and by enabling greater male participation in health areas typically targeted towards women. MHealth initiatives also increased women's decision-making, social status, and access to health resources. However, programmatic experiences by design may inadvertently reinforce the digital divide, and perpetuate existing gender-based power imbalances. Domestic disputes and lack of spousal approval additionally hampered women's participation.
CONCLUSION: Efforts to scale-up health interventions enhanced by mobile technologies should consider the implementation and evaluation imperative of ensuring that mHealth programs transform rather than reinforce gender inequalities. The evidence base on the effect of mHealth interventions on gender relations is weak, and rigorous research is urgently needed.
BACKGROUND: Mobile phone text messaging (SMS) has the potential to promote adherence to tuberculosis treatment. This systematic review aims to synthesize current evidence on the effectiveness of SMS interventions in improving patients' adherence to tuberculosis treatment.
METHODS: We searched electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Science Citation Index), reference lists of relevant articles, conference proceedings, and selected websites for eligible studies available by 15 February 2013; regardless of language or publication status. Two authors independently screened selected eligible studies, and assessed risk of bias in included studies; resolving discrepancies by discussion and consensus.
RESULTS: We identified four studies that compared the outcomes of the SMS intervention group with controls. Only one of the four studies was a randomized controlled trial. This was conducted in Argentina and the SMS intervention did not significantly improve adherence to tuberculosis treatment compared to self-administration of tuberculosis treatment (risk ratio [RR] 1.49, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.90 to 2.42). One of the non-randomized studies, conducted in South Africa, which compared SMS reminders to directly observed therapy short course (DOTS) reported similar rates of tuberculosis cure (62.35% vs. 66.4%) and treatment success (72.94% vs. 69.4%). A second study from South Africa, utilized SMS reminders when patients delayed in opening their pill bottles and reported increased tuberculosis cure (RR 2.32, 95% CI 1.60 to 3.36) and smear conversion (RR 1.62, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.42) rates compared to DOTS. In the third non-randomized study, conducted in Kenya, use of SMS reminders increased rates of clinic attendance on scheduled days compared to standard care (RR 1.56, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.29). Using the GRADE approach, we rate the quality of the evidence as low, mainly because of the high risk of bias and heterogeneity of effects across studies.
CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review indicates that there is a paucity of high-quality data on the effectiveness of SMS interventions for improving patients' adherence to tuberculosis treatment. The low quality of the current evidence implies that further studies (in particular randomized trials) on the subject are needed. In the interim, if the intervention is implemented outside research settings an impact evaluation is warranted.
BACKGROUND: More than 34 million people are presently living with HIV infection. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can help these people to live longer, healthier lives, but adherence to ART can be difficult. Mobile phone text-messaging has the potential to help promote adherence in these patients.
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether mobile phone text-messaging is efficacious in enhancing adherence to ART in patients with HIV infection.
SEARCH METHODS: Using the Cochrane Collaboration's validated search strategies for identifying randomised controlled trials and reports of HIV interventions, along with appropriate keywords and MeSH terms, we searched a range of electronic databases, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), EMBASE, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), MEDLINE (via PubMed), PsycINFO, Web of Science, and the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Index Medicus. The date range was from 01 January 1980 to 01 November 2011. There were no limits to language or publication status.
SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in which patients or their caregivers (in the case of infants and children) of any age, in any setting, and receiving ART were provided with mobile phone text messages as a means of promoting adherence to ART.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently examined the abstracts of all identified trials. We initially identified 243 references. Seventeen full-text articles were closely reviewed. Both authors abstracted data independently, using a pre-designed, standardised data collection form. When appropriate, data were combined in meta-analysis.
MAIN RESULTS: Two RCTs from Kenya were included in the review. One trial compared short weekly text messages against standard care. The other trial compared short daily, long daily, short weekly and long weekly messages against standard care. Both trials were with adult patients.In the trial comparing only short weekly messages to standard care, text messaging was associated with a lower risk of non-adherence at 12 months (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.93) and with the non-occurrence of virologic failure at 12 months (RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.99).In the trial that compared different intervals and lengths for text-messaging to standard care, long weekly text-messaging was not significantly associated with a lower risk of non-adherence compared to standard care (RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.60 to 1.04). Patients receiving weekly text-messages of any length were at lower risk of non-adherence at 48 weeks than were patients receiving daily messages of any length (RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.99). There were no significant differences between weekly text-messaging of any length (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.37) and between short or long messaging at either interval (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.27). Compared to standard care, any daily text-messaging, whether short or long, did not reduce the risk for non-adherence (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.20).In meta-analysis of both trials, any weekly text-messaging (i.e. whether short or long messages) was associated with a lower risk of non-adherence at 48-52 weeks (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.89). The effect of short weekly text-messaging was also significant (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.89).
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is high-quality evidence from the two RCTs that mobile phone text-messaging at weekly intervals is efficacious in enhancing adherence to ART, compared to standard care. There is high quality evidence from one trial that weekly mobile phone text-messaging is efficacious in improving HIV viral load suppression. Policy-makers should consider funding programs proposing to provide weekly mobile phone text-messaging as a means for promoting adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Clinics and hospitals should consider implementing such programs. There is a need for large RCTs of this intervention in adolescent populations, as well as in high-income countries.
Technology is rapidly advancing and becoming a cost effective option for intervention delivery particularly for isolated and hard to reach populations, such as people living with HIV/AIDS. A systematic review was conducted to identify recent technology based interventions for people living with HIV. The review yielded 12 studies that were grouped by the health behavior that it addressed and then the type of technology utilized. The majority of studies reviewed focused on medication adherence and used several different technologies to deliver the intervention including SMS/text messaging, cell phones and computers. This review identified several gaps in the literature particularly the lack of technology-based interventions focusing on engagement and retention to care as well as sexual risk reduction. Suggestions for future research based on these findings are provided.
Understanding of global health and changing morbidity and mortality is limited by inadequate measurement of population health. With fewer than one-third of deaths worldwide being assigned a cause, this long-standing dearth of information, almost exclusively in the world's poorest countries, hinders understanding of population health and limits opportunities for planning, monitoring, and evaluating interventions. In the absence of routine death registration, verbal autopsy (VA) methods are used to derive probable causes of death. Much effort has been put into refining the approach for specific purposes; however, there has been a lack of harmony regarding such efforts. Subsequently, a variety of methods and principles have been developed, often focusing on a single aspect of VA, and the resulting literature provides an inconsistent picture. By reviewing methodological and conceptual issues in VA, it is evident that VA cannot be reduced to a single one-size-fits-all tool. VA must be contextualized; given the lack of "gold standards," methodological developments should not be considered in terms of absolute validity but rather in terms of consistency, comparability, and adequacy for the intended purpose. There is an urgent need for clarified thinking about the overall objectives of population-level cause-of-death measurement and harmonized efforts in empirical methodological research.
BACKGROUND: For the world's 60 million non-facility births, addressing who is currently attending these births and what effect they have on birth outcomes is a key starting point toward improving care during childbirth. OBJECTIVE: We present a systematic review of evidence for the effect of community-based cadres-community-based skilled birth attendants (SBAs), trained traditional birth attendants (TBAs), and community health workers (CHWs)-in improving perinatal and intrapartum-related outcomes. RESULTS: The evidence for providing skilled birth attendance in the community is low quality, consisting of primarily before-and-after and quasi-experimental studies, with a pooled 12% reduction in all cause perinatal mortality (PMR) and a 22%-47% reduction in intrapartum-related neonatal mortality (IPR-NMR). Low/moderate quality evidence suggests that TBA training may improve linkages with facilities and improve perinatal outcomes. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) of TBA training showed a 30% reduction in PMR, and a meta-analysis demonstrated an 11% reduction in IPR-NMR. There is moderate evidence that CHWs have a positive impact on perinatal-neonatal outcomes. Meta-analysis of CHW packages (2 cluster randomized controlled trials, 2 quasi-experimental studies) showed a 28% reduction in PMR and a 36% reduction in early neonatal mortality rate; one quasi-experimental study showed a 42% reduction in IPR-NMR. CONCLUSION: Skilled childbirth care is recommended for all pregnant women, and community strategies need to be linked to prompt, high-quality emergency obstetric care. CHWs may play a promising role in providing pregnancy and childbirth care, mobilizing communities, and improving perinatal outcomes in low-income settings. While the role of the TBA is still controversial, strategies emphasizing partnerships with the health system should be further considered. Innovative community-based strategies combined with health systems strengthening may improve childbirth care for the rural poor, help reduce gross inequities in maternal and newborn survival and stillbirth rates, and provide an effective transition to higher coverage for facility births.
Many mobile phone resources have been developed to increase access to health education in the developing world, yet few studies have compared these resources or quantified their performance in a resource-limited setting. This study aims to compare the performance of resident physicians in answering clinical scenarios using PubMed abstracts accessed via the PubMed for Handhelds (PubMed4Hh) website versus medical/drug reference applications (Medical Apps) accessed via software on the mobile phone.
METHODS:
A two-arm comparative study with crossover design was conducted. Subjects, who were resident physicians at the University of Botswana, completed eight scenarios, each with multi-part questions. The primary outcome was a grade for each question. The primary independent variable was the intervention arm and other independent variables included residency and question.
RESULTS:
Within each question type there were significant differences in 'percentage correct' between Medical Apps and PubMed4Hh for three of the six types of questions: drug-related, diagnosis/definitions, and treatment/management. Within each of these question types, Medical Apps had a higher percentage of fully correct responses than PubMed4Hh (63% vs 13%, 33% vs 12%, and 41% vs 13%, respectively). PubMed4Hh performed better for epidemiologic questions.
CONCLUSIONS:
While mobile access to primary literature remains important and serves an information niche, mobile applications with condensed content may be more appropriate for point-of-care information needs. Further research is required to examine the specific information needs of clinicians in resource-limited settings and to evaluate the appropriateness of current resources in bridging location- and context-specific information gaps.
