Women's perceptions about mobile health solutions for selection and use of family planning methods in Karachi: a feasibility study

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dc.contributor.authorAbrejo, F.G.
dc.contributor.authorIqbal, R.
dc.contributor.authorSaleem, S.
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractBackground: The qualitative study explored the feasibility and acceptability of potential mHealth intervention for women living in low socio-economic areas to increase the uptake of family planning. The study also examined providers’ perceptions’ potential benefits of mHealth intervention. Methods: The qualitative exploratory study recorded the perception of 23 women and conducted seven in-depth interviews with the providers of family planning services. These interviews assessed women’s attitudes through; personal experience based on the usage of smartphones and family planning, acceptability for personal benefits, features of mobile applications and the convenient language, and self-efficacy for identifying the potential impact of mHealth intervention to increase women’s empowerment for family planning usage. Results: Three predetermined themes were used to record women’s perceptions. Women’s personal experience identified that women in low-socioeconomic areas use mobile phones frequently and also use them for gaining information related to health. Few women have experience using mobile phones to get information about sexual and reproductive health. Women considered; poor counselling and high transport costs to the facilities as significant barriers to getting family planning services. Perceived acceptability discussed the potential features of the mHealth app. Women considered that including short videos instead of written material would help them to understand its usage and complete information about family planning methods, including; dosage, expected side effects, and potential benefits suggested to include in the app. Women perceived that the mHealth intervention would save their transport costs to the facility and fill the information gap about family planning methods. In comparison, providers considered it would save time in counselling and motivating women at the facility. One of the significant factors discussed was self-efficacy in the form of women’s empowerment in deciding on family planning. Women discussed that the mHealth intervention would increase their self-confidence to discuss the method with their husbands. Conclusion: There is a high potential for mHealth interventions for family planning in Pakistan. The usage of mobile phones can increase women’s acceptability and accessibility for family planning uptake in the country. Keywords: mHealth, Mobile health, Family planning, Low socio-economic areas, The feasibility of family
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityFarina Gul Abrejo, Romaina Iqbal, and Sarah Saleem
dc.identifier.citationBMC Women's Health, 2022; 22(1):490-1-490-11
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12905-022-02086-1
dc.identifier.issn1472-6874
dc.identifier.issn1472-6874
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/145739
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherBMC
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-022-02086-1
dc.subjectmHealth; Mobile health; Family planning; Low socio-economic areas; The feasibility of family planning; Acceptability of family planning; Low and middle-income countries
dc.subject.meshHumans
dc.subject.meshFeasibility Studies
dc.subject.meshTelemedicine
dc.subject.meshFamily Planning Services
dc.subject.meshFemale
dc.subject.meshMobile Applications
dc.subject.meshCell Phone
dc.titleWomen's perceptions about mobile health solutions for selection and use of family planning methods in Karachi: a feasibility study
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished online

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