Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions
Abstract 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...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
BMC
2021-01-01
|
Series: | Reproductive Health |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-01059-7 |
id |
doaj-7ae8090baed44a8f8bf1398aea5211c4 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-7ae8090baed44a8f8bf1398aea5211c42021-01-17T12:19:05ZengBMCReproductive Health1742-47552021-01-0118111310.1186/s12978-020-01059-7Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutionsAnam Shahil Feroz0Naureen Akber Ali1Adeel Khoja2Armish Asad3Sarah Saleem4Department of Community Health Sciences, The Aga Khan UniversitySchool of Nursing and Midwifery, The Aga Khan UniversityDepartment of Medicine, The Aga Khan UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Northwest ClinicDepartment of Community Health Sciences, The Aga Khan UniversityAbstract 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 that 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 Central, and grey literature were searched between January 01, 2005 and March 31, 2020 to identify various types of mHealth interventions that are used to improve SRH services for young people in LMICs. Of 2948 titles screened after duplication, 374 potentially relevant abstracts were obtained. Out of 374 abstracts, 75 abstracts were shortlisted. Full text of 75 studies were reviewed using a pre-defined data extraction sheet. A total of 15 full-text studies were included in the final analysis. Results The final 15 studies 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 = 14, 93%] followed by financial transactions and incentives, and data collection and reporting Little evidence exists on other types of mHealth applications described in Labrique et al. framework. Included studies evaluated the impact of mHealth interventions on access to SRH services (n = 9) and SRH outcomes (n = 6). mHealth interventions in included studies addressed barriers of provider prejudice, stigmatization, discrimination, fear of refusal, lack of privacy, and confidentiality. The studies 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 the 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. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42018087585 (Feb 5, 2018)https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-01059-7Mobile phonesmHealthYoung people sexual and reproductive healthLow and middle-income countriesSystematic reviewFacilitators |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Anam Shahil Feroz Naureen Akber Ali Adeel Khoja Armish Asad Sarah Saleem |
spellingShingle |
Anam Shahil Feroz Naureen Akber Ali Adeel Khoja Armish Asad Sarah Saleem Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions Reproductive Health Mobile phones mHealth Young people sexual and reproductive health Low and middle-income countries Systematic review Facilitators |
author_facet |
Anam Shahil Feroz Naureen Akber Ali Adeel Khoja Armish Asad Sarah Saleem |
author_sort |
Anam Shahil Feroz |
title |
Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions |
title_short |
Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions |
title_full |
Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions |
title_fullStr |
Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mHealth solutions |
title_sort |
using mobile phones to improve young people sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review to identify barriers, facilitators, and range of mhealth solutions |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
Reproductive Health |
issn |
1742-4755 |
publishDate |
2021-01-01 |
description |
Abstract 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 that 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 Central, and grey literature were searched between January 01, 2005 and March 31, 2020 to identify various types of mHealth interventions that are used to improve SRH services for young people in LMICs. Of 2948 titles screened after duplication, 374 potentially relevant abstracts were obtained. Out of 374 abstracts, 75 abstracts were shortlisted. Full text of 75 studies were reviewed using a pre-defined data extraction sheet. A total of 15 full-text studies were included in the final analysis. Results The final 15 studies 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 = 14, 93%] followed by financial transactions and incentives, and data collection and reporting Little evidence exists on other types of mHealth applications described in Labrique et al. framework. Included studies evaluated the impact of mHealth interventions on access to SRH services (n = 9) and SRH outcomes (n = 6). mHealth interventions in included studies addressed barriers of provider prejudice, stigmatization, discrimination, fear of refusal, lack of privacy, and confidentiality. The studies 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 the 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. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42018087585 (Feb 5, 2018) |
topic |
Mobile phones mHealth Young people sexual and reproductive health Low and middle-income countries Systematic review Facilitators |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-01059-7 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT anamshahilferoz usingmobilephonestoimproveyoungpeoplesexualandreproductivehealthinlowandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreviewtoidentifybarriersfacilitatorsandrangeofmhealthsolutions AT naureenakberali usingmobilephonestoimproveyoungpeoplesexualandreproductivehealthinlowandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreviewtoidentifybarriersfacilitatorsandrangeofmhealthsolutions AT adeelkhoja usingmobilephonestoimproveyoungpeoplesexualandreproductivehealthinlowandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreviewtoidentifybarriersfacilitatorsandrangeofmhealthsolutions AT armishasad usingmobilephonestoimproveyoungpeoplesexualandreproductivehealthinlowandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreviewtoidentifybarriersfacilitatorsandrangeofmhealthsolutions AT sarahsaleem usingmobilephonestoimproveyoungpeoplesexualandreproductivehealthinlowandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreviewtoidentifybarriersfacilitatorsandrangeofmhealthsolutions |
_version_ |
1724335141261672448 |