IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v11y2022i5p196-d805618.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perspectives of Adolescents, Parents, Service Providers, and Teachers on Mobile Phone Use for Sexual Reproductive Health Education

Author

Listed:
  • Beverly M. Ochieng

    (Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH), P.O. Box 4074, Kisumu 40103, Kenya)

  • Lesley Smith

    (Institute for Clinical and Applied Health Research (ICAHR), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK)

  • Bev Orton

    (Faculty of Arts, Culture and Education, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK)

  • Mark Hayter

    (Department of Nursing, Manchester Metropolitan University, Brooks Building, 53 Bonsall Street, Manchester M15 6GX, UK)

  • Margaret Kaseje

    (Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH), P.O. Box 4074, Kisumu 40103, Kenya)

  • Charles O. Wafula

    (Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH), P.O. Box 4074, Kisumu 40103, Kenya)

  • Penina Ocholla

    (Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH), P.O. Box 4074, Kisumu 40103, Kenya)

  • Franklin Onukwugha

    (Institute for Clinical and Applied Health Research (ICAHR), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK)

  • Dan C. O. Kaseje

    (Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH), P.O. Box 4074, Kisumu 40103, Kenya)

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) programs offer opportunities to improve the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of adolescents by providing information. This paper reports the findings of a study carried out in Homabay County, Kenya, to assess stakeholders’ perspectives on access to and use of mobile phones by adolescents for SRH education. We aimed to establish whether mobile phones could facilitate access to SRH information by adolescents and the barriers to be addressed. This was a qualitative exploratory study involving adolescents, parents, teachers, health care workers, and community health volunteers. Data were collected through focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs), and were analyzed through thematic and content analysis. Respondents lauded mHealth as an effective and efficient approach to adolescent SRH education with a potential to promote the learning of useful SRH information to influence their behavior formation. Respondents pointed out bottlenecks such as the limited ownership of and inequitable access to phones among adolescents, logistical barriers such as lack of electricity, internet connectivity, and the impact of phones on school performance, which must be addressed. The usefulness of mHealth in adolescent SRH education can be enhanced through inclusive program formulation and co-creation, implemented through safe spaces where adolescents would access information in groups, and supported by trained counselors.

Suggested Citation

  • Beverly M. Ochieng & Lesley Smith & Bev Orton & Mark Hayter & Margaret Kaseje & Charles O. Wafula & Penina Ocholla & Franklin Onukwugha & Dan C. O. Kaseje, 2022. "Perspectives of Adolescents, Parents, Service Providers, and Teachers on Mobile Phone Use for Sexual Reproductive Health Education," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:196-:d:805618
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/5/196/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/5/196/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julia R G Raifman & Heather E Lanthorn & Slawa Rokicki & Günther Fink, 2014. "The Impact of Text Message Reminders on Adherence to Antimalarial Treatment in Northern Ghana: A Randomized Trial," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(10), pages 1-10, October.
    2. Vandeyar, Thirusellvan, 2013. "Practice as policy in ICT for education: Catalysing communities of practice in education in South Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 248-257.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miguel Godinho de Matos & Pedro Ferreira, 2020. "The Effect of Binge-Watching on the Subscription of Video on Demand: Results from Randomized Experiments," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 1337-1360, December.
    2. Cátia Batista & Marcel Fafchamps & Pedro C Vicente, 2022. "Keep It Simple: A Field Experiment on Information Sharing among Strangers [Changing Saving and Investment Behavior: The Impact of Financial Literacy Training and Reminders on Micro-Businesses]," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(4), pages 857-888.
    3. Cátia Batista & Marcel Fafchamps & Pedro C. Vicente, 2018. "Keep It Simple: A Field Experiment on Information Sharing in Social Networks," NBER Working Papers 24908, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Danijela Vuletic, 2015. "How Effective are Reminders and Frames in Incentivizing Blood Donations," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp554, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    5. Dupas, Pascaline & Jain, Radhika, 2023. "Can beneficiary information improve hospital accountability? Experimental evidence from a public health insurance scheme in India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    6. Eduard Marinov, 2017. "The 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 117-159.
    7. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2017. "Richard H. Thaler: Integrating Economics with Psychology," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2017-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    8. Cohen, Jessica & Saran, Indrani, 2018. "The impact of packaging and messaging on adherence to malaria treatment: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 68-95.
    9. Ditte S Linde & Malene Korsholm & Johnson Katanga & Vibeke Rasch & Andreas Lundh & Marianne S Andersen, 2019. "One-way SMS and healthcare outcomes in Africa: Systematic review of randomised trials with meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Lenel, Friederike & Priebe, Jan & Satriawan, Elan & Syamsulhakim, Ekki, 2022. "Can mHealth campaigns improve CCT outcomes? Experimental evidence from sms-nudges in Indonesia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Grépin, Karen A. & Habyarimana, James & Jack, William, 2019. "Cash on delivery: Results of a randomized experiment to promote maternal health care in Kenya," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 15-30.
    12. John Guyton & Dayanand S. Manoli & Brenda Schafer & Michael Sebastiani, 2016. "Reminders & Recidivism: Evidence from Tax Filing & EITC Participation among Low-Income Nonfilers," NBER Working Papers 21904, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Thomas Bossuroy & Clara Delavallade & Vincent Pons, 2019. "Biometric Tracking, Healthcare Provision, and Data Quality: Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control," NBER Working Papers 26388, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Ricardo Maertens & Alessandro Tarozzi & Kazi Matin Ahmed & Alexander van Geen, 2018. "Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh," Working Papers id:12934, eSocialSciences.
    15. Essl, Andrea & Steffen, Angela & Staehle, Martin, 2021. "Choose to reuse! The effect of action-close reminders on pro-environmental behavior," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    16. Giacomo Calzolari & Mattia Nardotto, 2017. "Effective Reminders," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(9), pages 2915-2932, September.
    17. Alessandro Tarozzi & Ricardo Maertens & Kazi Matin Ahmed & Alexander van Geen, 2021. "Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(3), pages 764-792.
    18. Collins Kazondovi & Albert Isaacs & Sitali Brian Lwendo, 2022. "The Challenges Distance Education Students Experience during Their Education Degree Program in the Faculty of Education at the University of Namibia," Higher Education Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 1-54, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:196-:d:805618. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.