A comparison of two text message-based intervention studies for health promotion in Cape Town, South Africa: The lessons learnt | Zendy

Yan Kwan Lau | Zendy; Kirsty Brittain | Zendy; Damian Hacking | Zendy; Avital Cassidy | Zendy; Hanne Jensen Haricharan | Zendy; Marion Heap | Zendy

Open Access

A comparison of two text message-based intervention studies for health promotion in Cape Town, South Africa: The lessons learnt

Author(s) -

Yan Kwan Lau,

Kirsty Brittain,

Damian Hacking,

Avital Cassidy,

Hanne Jensen Haricharan,

Marion Heap

Publication year - 2013

Publication title -

journal of mobile technology in medicine

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

ISSN - 1839-7808

DOI - 10.7309/jmtm.2.4s.13

Subject(s) - short message service , cape , psychological intervention , health promotion , promotion (chess) , text message , medicine , intervention (counseling) , information dissemination , health education , unit (ring theory) , mass media , environmental health , family medicine , nursing , advertising , business , public health , psychology , political science , mathematics education , world wide web , operating system , computer network , politics , computer science , law

According to the World Bank, there are 128 mobile subscriptions per 100 people in South Africa as of 2011. Cellphones are therefore viewed as having considerable potential for health promotion. However, evaluations of interventions and evidence of effectiveness are still limited in developing countries. Two separate trilingual (isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English) short-message-service (SMS) interventions that took place from 2012 to 2013 in Cape Town are evaluated. The SMS campaigns aimed to increase health knowledge by disseminating health information via SMS. Specifically, each study involved sending SMSes to participants to provide them with information regarding how to control hypertension and how to be healthy during pregnancy, respectively. The hypertension campaign was conducted with hypertensive patients at a Community Health Centre, while the antenatal campaign was with pregnant women attending a Midwife Obstetric Unit. Facility staff guided the preparation and checked the health promotion content of both campaigns.

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