Mobile Phone Messaging to Improve Reproductive Health for Women Living With HIV in Kenya (Mobile WACh Empower)
- Conditions
- HivContraceptionFertility Issues
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Digital counseling plus interactive two-way SMS dialogue
- Registration Number
- NCT05285670
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Washington
- Brief Summary
Use of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to provide reproductive life counseling to women living with HIV may improve delivery of integrated reproductive health/HIV services and prevent adverse reproductive health outcomes. The proposed study will evaluate SMS platform and reproductive health counseling intervention in a cluster randomized controlled trial among women receiving routine HIV care, and plan for future implementation with qualitative and health economic analyses.
- Detailed Description
Meeting reproductive health needs of women living with HIV (WLWH) is essential to help women prevent unintended pregnancies, safely conceive, and eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT). Reproductive life planning is complex for WLWH, who are faced with making decisions about antiretroviral treatment selections and potential for drug interactions with contraceptive methods, planning for safe conception, and planning to prevent sexually transmitted infections. While family planning (FP) use is high among WLWH, discontinuation of FP is common among women who desire pregnancy prevention, and is an important driver of unmet need for FP and subsequent risk of unintended pregnancy and adverse maternal and child health outcomes. Many programs in sub-Saharan Africa integrate FP service delivery into routine HIV care, but HIV care providers face challenges with implementing these models of care. HIV care providers may be ill equipped to ensure WLWH receive high-quality, rights' based reproductive health counseling and services due to lack time, training, resources, and skills. Prior studies on integrating FP services into HIV care consistently cite implementation challenges. Mobile health technology may provide a low cost solution to augment counseling services, strengthen health care systems, and alleviate demands on HIV providers. The investigators hypothesize that providing comprehensive counseling and two-way SMS communication, will 1) improve delivery of integrated HIV and reproductive health care services, 2) reduce contraceptive discontinuation rates, 3) be acceptable and feasible to implement, and 4) be cost-effective and contribute to prevention MTCT efforts. The investigators will adapt a unique two-way SMS platform (Mobile WACh) that combines automated bulk SMS messaging and dialogue with a health care provider for a new population, new environment, and new outcomes for long-term impact. The Mobile WACh platform will be customized to provide continuous reproductive life planning counseling for WLWH. The investigators will test the combined intervention in a cluster randomized controlled trial among women receiving HIV care at 10 facilities in Kenya (330 per facility). The investigators propose to evaluate the effect of the counseling and SMS communication intervention, Mobile WACh Empower, on reproductive health outcomes. In Aim 1, the investigators will determine the effect of the Mobile WACh Empower intervention on FP discontinuation, dual method use, and unmet need for FP over 2 years. In Aim 2, the investigators will evaluate acceptability, feasibility, and scalability of implementing Mobile WACh Empower under real-world settings, from both WLWH and provider perspectives in focus group discussions. In Aim 3, the investigators will construct a mathematical model to measure health and economic impacts of Mobile WACh Empower, including cost-effectiveness of the intervention per pregnancy and MTCT averted. This trial will evaluate a novel intervention to address a crucial gap in provision of integrated reproductive health and HIV care, and has the potential to make a significant contribution to global goals of universal access to FP and elimination of MTCT.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- Female
- Target Recruitment
- 3300
- HIV-infected
- Receiving HIV care at study site
- Reproductive age (18-45; 14-17 if emancipated minors)
- Daily access to mobile phone (own phone or shared)
- Plan to receive HIV care at enrollment facility for 2 years
- Speak English, Kiswahili, or Luo
- Literate or comfortable with someone reading study SMS
- Currently pregnant
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Digital counseling plus interactive two-way SMS dialogue Digital counseling plus interactive two-way SMS dialogue Participants will receive initial counseling on a tablet followed by automated SMS messages with prompts to reply. They will have the ability to both respond to and initiate SMS dialogue. Trained Study Nurses will monitor and respond to participant messages.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Contraceptive discontinuation 2 years Proportion not using contraception among women who initiated or continued contraception to prevent pregnancy
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Uptake of dual methods of contraception 2 years Proportion who use condoms plus another modern method of contraception
Unmet need for contraception 2 years Proportion with a desire for pregnancy but not using contraception
Trial Locations
- Locations (10)
Kisumu District General Hospital
🇰🇪Kisumu, Kenya
Lumumba sub-County Hospital
🇰🇪Kisumu, Kenya
Kangemi Health Centre
🇰🇪Nairobi, Kenya
Dandora 2 Health Center
🇰🇪Nairobi, Kenya
Bondo sub-County Hospital
🇰🇪Bondo, Kenya
Rachuonyo District
🇰🇪Oyugis, Kenya
Mathare North Health Center
🇰🇪Nairobi, Kenya
Riruta Health Center
🇰🇪Nairobi, Kenya
Siaya District Hospital
🇰🇪Siaya, Kenya
Kenyatta National Hospital
🇰🇪Nairobi, Kenya