SMS text message reminders to improve infant vaccination coverage in Guatemala: A pilot randomized controlled trial
An article from Vaccine Journal: doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.03.065.
From the results posted in PubMed: The participation rate was 86.8% (321/370); 8 did not own a cell phone and 12 could not use SMS. 96.9% of intervention parents were sent at least one SMS reminder prior to visit 2 and 96.3% prior to visit 3. Both intervention and usual care participants had high rates of vaccine and visit completion, with a non-statistically significant higher percentage of children in the intervention completing both visit 2 (95.0% vs. 90.1%, p=.09) and visit 3 (84.4% vs. 80.7%, p=.39). More intervention vs. usual care parents agreed that SMS reminders would be helpful for remembering appointments (p<.0001), agreed to being interested in receiving future SMS reminders (p<.0001), and said that they would be willing to pay for future SMS reminders (p=.02).
| Study Region | Guatemala |
| Organization | Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado |
| Issue or Problem | Increasing childhood vaccination rates in LMICs |
| Tech Medium | SMS |
| Technology Device | Mobile Phones |
| mFHAST Implication | Feasibility of using SMS for increasing childhood vaccination rates in LMIC settings |
More links
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Link to article in PubMedThis proof of concept evaluation showed that a new application of SMS technology is feasible to implement in a LMIC with high user satisfaction. Larger studies with modifications in the SMS system are needed to determine effectiveness (Clinical Trial Registry NCT01663636).