TY - JOUR
T1 - Mobile health technology to improve maternal health awareness in tribal populations
T2 - Mobile for mothers
AU - Choudhury, Avishek
AU - Asan, Onur
AU - Choudhury, Murari M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected].
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - Mobile health (mHealth) applications have the potential to improve health awareness. This study reports a quasi-controlled intervention to augment maternal health awareness among tribal pregnant mothers through the mHealth application. Households from 2 independent villages with similar socio-demographics in tribal regions of India were selected as intervention (Village A) and control group (Village B). The control group received government mandated programs through traditional means (orally), whereas the intervention group received the same education through mHealth utilization. Postintervention, awareness about tetanus injections and consumption of iron tablets was significantly (P <. 001) improved in the intervention group by 55% and 58%, respectively. Awareness about hygiene significantly (P <. 001) increased by 57.1%. In addition, mothers in the intervention group who recognized vaginal bleeding, severe abdominal pain, severe blurring of vision, or convulsions as danger signs during pregnancy significantly (P <. 001) increased by 18.30%, 23.2%, 20.0%, and 4.90%, respectively. Our study indicates that despite the low literacy of users, mHealth intervention can improve maternal health awareness among tribal communities.
AB - Mobile health (mHealth) applications have the potential to improve health awareness. This study reports a quasi-controlled intervention to augment maternal health awareness among tribal pregnant mothers through the mHealth application. Households from 2 independent villages with similar socio-demographics in tribal regions of India were selected as intervention (Village A) and control group (Village B). The control group received government mandated programs through traditional means (orally), whereas the intervention group received the same education through mHealth utilization. Postintervention, awareness about tetanus injections and consumption of iron tablets was significantly (P <. 001) improved in the intervention group by 55% and 58%, respectively. Awareness about hygiene significantly (P <. 001) increased by 57.1%. In addition, mothers in the intervention group who recognized vaginal bleeding, severe abdominal pain, severe blurring of vision, or convulsions as danger signs during pregnancy significantly (P <. 001) increased by 18.30%, 23.2%, 20.0%, and 4.90%, respectively. Our study indicates that despite the low literacy of users, mHealth intervention can improve maternal health awareness among tribal communities.
KW - antenatal care
KW - health awareness
KW - mHealth
KW - maternal health
KW - sustainable development goals
KW - tribal mothers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118598555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85118598555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/jamia/ocab172
DO - 10.1093/jamia/ocab172
M3 - Article
C2 - 34459478
AN - SCOPUS:85118598555
SN - 1067-5027
VL - 28
SP - 2467
EP - 2474
JO - Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
JF - Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
IS - 11
ER -
