Development of an mHealth Behavior Change Communication Strategy: A case-study from rural Uttar Pradesh in India

Authors:

Myriam Cielo Pérez (Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM) Montreal, Quebec, Canadá)
Rohit Singh (Gram Vaani Community Media, Amity University, New Delhi, India)
Dinesh Chandra (Independent Consultant ,Tika Vaani, New Delhi, India)
Valéry Ridde (French Institute for Research on Sustainable Development (IRD), Université de Paris, Paris, France)
Aaditeshwar Seth (Department of Computer Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Gram Vaani, New Delhi, India)
Mira Johri (Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canadá)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3378393.3402505

Session: 3.2. Health

Abstract: Mobile health interventions are an innovative way to improve health outcomes and may play a powerful role in mitigating health disparities. However, their use poses special challenges and few articles have reported specifically on digital technology interventions for vulnerable populations. This article shares our experience from the Tika Vaani (“vaccine voice”) Intervention which uses a combined face-to-face and mHealth strategy to educate and empower beneficiaries to improve immunization uptake and child health for a poor, low-literate population in rural Uttar Pradesh, India. Based on the mERA checklist, a guide to improve the completeness of reporting mHealth interventions, we provide information about the process of development, implementation and lessons for scaling up the Tika Vaani intervention. This study contributes to the literature to improve reporting on mHealth interventions and provide researchers with key points and actions to take during intervention development to serve hard-to-reach communities and improve health outcomes.