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Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria

In Nigeria, access to malaria diagnostics may be expanded if drug retailers were allowed to administer malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). A 2012 pilot intervention showed that short message service (SMS) reminder messages could boost treatment adherence to RDT results by 10–14% points. This stud...

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Autores principales: Liu, Jenny X., Modrek, Sepideh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5091342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27315831
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czw076
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author Liu, Jenny X.
Modrek, Sepideh
author_facet Liu, Jenny X.
Modrek, Sepideh
author_sort Liu, Jenny X.
collection PubMed
description In Nigeria, access to malaria diagnostics may be expanded if drug retailers were allowed to administer malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). A 2012 pilot intervention showed that short message service (SMS) reminder messages could boost treatment adherence to RDT results by 10–14% points. This study aimed to replicate the SMS intervention in a different population, and additionally test the effect of an expanded message about anticipated RDT access policy change on customers’ acceptability for drug retailers’ administration of RDTs. One day after being tested with an RDT, participants who purchased malaria treatment from drug shops were randomized to receive (1) a basic SMS reminder repeating the RDT result and appropriate treatment actions, (2) an expanded SMS reminder additionally saying that the ‘government might allow pharmacists/chemists to do RDTs’ or (3) no SMS reminders (i.e. control). Using regression analysis, we estimate intent-to-treat (ITT) and treatment effects on the treated for 686 study participants. Results corroborate previous findings that a basic SMS reminder increased treatment adherence [odds ratio (OR) = 1.53, 95% CI 0.96–2.44] and decreased use of unnecessary anti-malarials for RDT-negative adults [OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.39–1.00]. The expanded SMS also increased adherence for adults [OR = 1.42, 95% CI 0.97–2.07], but the effects for sick children differed—the basic SMS did not have any measurable impact on treatment adherence [OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.24–3.09] or use of unnecessary anti-malarials [OR = 1.27, 95% CI 0.32–1.93], and the expanded SMS actually led to poorer treatment adherence [OR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.10–0.66] and increased use of unnecessary anti-malarials [OR = 4.67, 95% CI 1.76–12.43]. Further, the targeted but neutral message in the expanded SMS lowered acceptance for drug retailers' administration of RDTs [OR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.10–2.93], counter to what we hypothesized. Future SMS interventions should show consistent positive results across populations and be attuned to message length and content before initiating a larger messaging campaign.
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spelling pubmed-50913422016-11-03 Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria Liu, Jenny X. Modrek, Sepideh Health Policy Plan Original Articles In Nigeria, access to malaria diagnostics may be expanded if drug retailers were allowed to administer malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). A 2012 pilot intervention showed that short message service (SMS) reminder messages could boost treatment adherence to RDT results by 10–14% points. This study aimed to replicate the SMS intervention in a different population, and additionally test the effect of an expanded message about anticipated RDT access policy change on customers’ acceptability for drug retailers’ administration of RDTs. One day after being tested with an RDT, participants who purchased malaria treatment from drug shops were randomized to receive (1) a basic SMS reminder repeating the RDT result and appropriate treatment actions, (2) an expanded SMS reminder additionally saying that the ‘government might allow pharmacists/chemists to do RDTs’ or (3) no SMS reminders (i.e. control). Using regression analysis, we estimate intent-to-treat (ITT) and treatment effects on the treated for 686 study participants. Results corroborate previous findings that a basic SMS reminder increased treatment adherence [odds ratio (OR) = 1.53, 95% CI 0.96–2.44] and decreased use of unnecessary anti-malarials for RDT-negative adults [OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.39–1.00]. The expanded SMS also increased adherence for adults [OR = 1.42, 95% CI 0.97–2.07], but the effects for sick children differed—the basic SMS did not have any measurable impact on treatment adherence [OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.24–3.09] or use of unnecessary anti-malarials [OR = 1.27, 95% CI 0.32–1.93], and the expanded SMS actually led to poorer treatment adherence [OR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.10–0.66] and increased use of unnecessary anti-malarials [OR = 4.67, 95% CI 1.76–12.43]. Further, the targeted but neutral message in the expanded SMS lowered acceptance for drug retailers' administration of RDTs [OR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.10–2.93], counter to what we hypothesized. Future SMS interventions should show consistent positive results across populations and be attuned to message length and content before initiating a larger messaging campaign. Oxford University Press 2016-12 2016-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC5091342/ /pubmed/27315831 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czw076 Text en © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Original Articles
Liu, Jenny X.
Modrek, Sepideh
Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria
title Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria
title_full Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria
title_fullStr Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria
title_short Evaluation of SMS reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in Nigeria
title_sort evaluation of sms reminder messages for altering treatment adherence and health seeking perceptions among malaria care-seekers in nigeria
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5091342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27315831
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czw076
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