IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/qsh/wpaper/488746.html

Impact of a Text-Messaging Program on Adolescent Reproductive Health: A Cluster?Randomized Trial in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Slawa Rokicki
  • Cohen, Jessica
  • Joshua A. Salomon
  • Gunther Fink

Abstract

Objectives. To evaluate whether text-messaging programs can improve reproductive health among adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries. Methods. We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial among 756 female students aged 14 to 24 years in Accra, Ghana, in 2014. We randomized 38 schools to unidirectional intervention (n = 12), interactive intervention (n = 12), and control (n = 14). The unidirectional intervention sent participants text messages with reproductive health information. The interactive intervention engaged adolescents in text-messaging reproductive health quizzes. The primary study outcome was reproductive health knowledge at 3 and 15 months. Additional outcomes included self-reported pregnancy and sexual behavior. Analysis was by intent-to-treat. Results. From baseline to 3months, the unidirectional intervention increased knowledge by 11 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI]= 7, 15) and the interactive intervention by 24 percentage points (95% CI = 19, 28), from a control baseline of 26%. Although we found no changes in reproductive health outcomes overall, both unidirectional (odds ratio [OR] = 0.14; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.71) and interactive interventions (OR= 0.15; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.86) lowered odds of self-reported pregnancy for sexually active participants. Conclusions. Text-messaging programs can lead to large improvements in reproductive health knowledge and have the potential to lower pregnancy risk for sexually active adolescent girls.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Slawa Rokicki & Cohen, Jessica & Joshua A. Salomon & Gunther Fink, "undated". "Impact of a Text-Messaging Program on Adolescent Reproductive Health: A Cluster?Randomized Trial in Ghana," Working Paper 488746, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    • Handle: RePEc:qsh:wpaper:488746
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://scholar.harvard.edu/slawarokicki/node/488746
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Annan,Jeannie & Mousson Estelle Jamel Koussoube & Josephine Tassy & Lea Marie Rouanet & Clara Delavallade & Evans,David, 2025. "Does Free Sound Too Cheap ? The Adverse Effect of a Randomized Text Message Campaign on Program Take-up," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11063, The World Bank.
    3. Melissa Hidrobo & Giordano Palloni & Daniel O. Gilligan & Jenny C. Aker & Natasha Ledlie, 2022. "Paying for Digital Information: Assessing Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for a Digital Agriculture and Nutrition Service in Ghana," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(4), pages 1367-1402.
    4. Innes Agbenu & Josephine Kyei & Florence Naab, 2024. "Female adolescent sexual reproductive health service utilization concerns: A qualitative enquiry in the Tema metropolis of Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(2), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Tomomi Tanaka, 2019. "Human Capital Development in Ghana," World Bank Publications - Reports 34181, The World Bank Group.
    6. 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.
    7. Franklin I Onukwugha & Lesley Smith & Dan Kaseje & Charles Wafula & Margaret Kaseje & Bev Orton & Mark Hayter & Monica Magadi, 2022. "The effectiveness and characteristics of mHealth interventions to increase adolescent’s use of Sexual and Reproductive Health services in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Nazeema Isaacs & Xolani Ntinga & Thabo Keetsi & Lindelwa Bhembe & Bongumenzi Mthembu & Allanise Cloete & Candice Groenewald, 2024. "Are mHealth Interventions Effective in Improving the Uptake of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services among Adolescents? A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-17, January.
    9. Jenny Aker & Joel Cariolle, 2022. "The Use of Digital for Public Service Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa," Post-Print hal-03003899, HAL.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:qsh:wpaper:488746. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Richard Brandon The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Richard Brandon to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cbrssus.html .

    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.