Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Most of the essential health services are not one-time services but required regular follow-ups. These follow-ups have been a major issue affecting the coverages of some health services in the Lagos State, Nigeria.
The Primary Health Care Board (PHCB) under the auspices of Lagos State Ministry of Health collaborated with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) developed an SMS reminder system to the clients who are required to return health facility and to complete a full course of service/regimen.
The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of short text reminder messages (SMSs) to clients through mobile technology in their continuous return for ANC, FP and child immunization including routine Vitamin A supplementation.
Who can participate?
All clients who have appointments at the 33 PHCs in Lagos state for antenatal care (ANC), family planning, and child immunization including routine Vitamin A supplementation during the study period.
What does the study involve?
All clients who visited the 33 PHCs for antenatal care (ANC), family planning, and child immunization including routine Vitamin A supplementation are registered for the study with verbal consent. They are randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The intervention group receives a short text reminder message two days before their appointment while the control group do not receive an SMS reminder message. If clients in the intervention group do not return to the health facility, they receive another reminder message seven days after the appointment day. As part of the standard of care, nurses will inform the clients in both intervention and control groups of the next appointment dates.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The benefit of participating in this study is receiving the SMS reminder on their appointments only. There is no risk of participating in this study since as part of the standard of care, nurses informed the clients in both intervention and control groups of the next appointment dates at the service provision
Where is the study run from?
Lagos State (Nigeria)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
October 2018 to November 2019
Who is funding the study?
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Who is the main contact?
Dr Hirotsugu Aiga, hirotsugu.aiga@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Mr Yoshito Kawakatsu, yoshitok@uw.edu
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Hirotsugu Aiga
ORCID ID
Contact details
1-12-4
Sakamoto
Nagasaki
852-8523
Japan
+81-95-819-7949
hirotsugu.aiga@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Type
Scientific
Additional contact
Mr Yoshito Kawakatsu
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1853-533X
Contact details
1959 NE Pacific Street
Seattle
WA
98195
United States of America
+1-206-221-4970
yoshitok@uw.edu
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
Nil known
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Nil known
Protocol/serial number
LSMH/4168/VII
Study information
Scientific title
Effectiveness of SMS appointment reminder and defaulter tracking system in Lagos State, Nigeria: A randomized controlled trial
Acronym
Study hypothesis
SMS reminder would improve health facility attendance by reminding the appointments of vaccines, antenatal care, and family planning
Ethics approval
Approved 13/12/2016, Health Research and Ethics Committee at Lagos State University Teaching hospital (1-5, OBA AKINJOBI ROAD, IKEJA, LAGOS, P.M.B. 21005, NIgeria; +234 - 1 - 471-0670; dcst@lasuth.org), ref: LREC /06/10/766
Study design
Randomized controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Hospitals
Trial type
Other
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet.
Condition
Attendance at appointments at local health centre for vaccination, ANC, and family planning
Intervention
A client in the intervention group received a short text reminder message two days before the scheduled appointment day (appointment reminder) while a client with an appointment under the control group (service as usual) did not receive an SMS reminder message. Clients in the intervention group who did not show up for their appointments received another reminder message seven days after the appointment day (patient-tracking message). As part of the standard of care, nurses informed the clients in both intervention and control groups of the next appointment dates.
The duration of the intervention was 6 months, with 4 months of follow up.
Randomization of participants was performed daily for all appointments two days hence, with groups matched in terms of the dates that the appointments were created.
Intervention type
Behavioural
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
The return status of the appointments for the three health services (i.e. ANC, FP, and child immunization including routine Vitamin A supplementation) measured for the duration of the study using patient records. If a client returns to a health facility for her appointment, they were categorized as returned cases, while if do not return, they were categorized as a defaulter
Secondary outcome measures
Timing of receiving vaccination, ANC and FP measured for the duration of the study using patient records
Overall trial start date
01/10/2018
Overall trial end date
30/11/2019
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
1. All clients who visited the 33 PHCs in Lagos state for antenatal care (ANC), family planning, and child immunization including routine Vitamin A supplementation
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Adult
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
Since we planned to conduct a stratified analysis for each service, the target sample size for ANC, FP and child immunization were 2,492, 580, and 7,630 respectively. Assumptions used for the sample size calculation were power at 0.9, an alpha error at .05, and the increased return rate from 70% to 75% in ANC, from 70% to 80% in FP and from 80% to 82.5% in immunization.
Participant exclusion criteria
1. Clients with the appointments of other services (e.g., HIV/TB care)
2. Clients without a mobile phone or accessible phone number
Recruitment start date
14/01/2019
Recruitment end date
30/06/2019
Locations
Countries of recruitment
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Adeniyi Jones PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ajeabo PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ajibulu / Mafoluku PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Akinwunmi Ambode PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Akowonjo PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Alapere PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Alausa PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ashogbon PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ayantuga PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ejire Phc
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Festac PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ifako Ijaye PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ijora Oloye PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ikate PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ikosi PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ilasa PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ipaja PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ipinlerere PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Iwaya PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
IYANA EJIGBO PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ketu (Mascara) PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Layeni PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ogudu PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ojodu PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ojokoro PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ondo St West PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Orisunbare PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Palm Avenue PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Rauf Aregbesola PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Simpson PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Sura PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ogba PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Trial participating centre
Ohekenu PHC
Lagos
N/A
Nigeria
Sponsor information
Organisation
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Sponsor details
1F–6F Ninbancho Building Center
Chiyoda
Tokyo
102-0084
Japan
+81 (0)3-5226-6660
mptpr@jica.go.jp
Sponsor type
Government
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Alternative name(s)
Agence Japonaise de Coopération Internationale, Agencia de Cooperación Internacional del Japón, JICA
Funding Body Type
government organisation
Funding Body Subtype
government non-federal
Location
Japan
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
We will publish this research in an international journal with close collaboration with PHCB.
IPD sharing statement:
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available due to the ownership of the data. The dataset used in this study belongs to the Lagos State Ministry of Health. Without permission from the Ministry, we cannot share raw data with anybody.
Intention to publish date
01/08/2020
Participant level data
Available on request
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list