Effectiveness of mobile phone text message reminder on birth preparedness in a rural community in Kenya

Background: Birth preparedness is a strategy that has been found effective in preventing obstetric delays. Use of mobile technology can enable access and efficiency of health messages delivered during antenatal care. The mobile technology can be more effective in conveying health messages owing to its accessibility and enables follow up. Materials and Methods: This was a randomized control trial carried out among pregnant women attending public health antenatal clinics in Migori County. Four health facilities were randomized. Two facilities each were randomly picked for the study and control groups respectively. A total of 379 participants were recruited into the study. The study group participants received a verbal message on birth preparedness and a mobile phone text message reminder one month to their expected date of delivery. Follow up was done to both groups through their mobile phone contacts. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and analyzed using Stata version 11. Proportion tests were done to compare the groups. Results: The success rate of the study was 90.5% (n = 343). Most of the participants (73%) were aged between 20 and 34 years. Majority of them were married (79.2%) and most of them had primary level of education. Protestant was the predominant religion (55.2%). Housewives and businesswomen constituted 34.2% and 27%, respectively. The respondents in the study group who were birth prepared were 74.3% (n = 136) while those in the control group were 48.1% (n = 77). Conclusion: The use of mobile phone text message reminder in addition to verbal messages is more effective.