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Mobile-based Text Messages for Improved Pediatric Health in Rural Areas of Pakistan: A Qualitative Study

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Persuasive Technology. Designing for Future Change (PERSUASIVE 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12064))

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Abstract

Persuasive Technology (PT) as a field of research provides tremendous opportunities for helping people improve their health and wellbeing. This paper highlights opportunities for empowering rural female population through a simple text-based persuasive intervention. The study was performed in June 2019 in a remotely located population in North-Eastern Pakistan. The target population were young mothers who were frequent users of mobile phones and able to read text messages. The study investigated whether simple Mobile-based Text Messages based on Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) could bring a positive behavior change in mothers such as breastfeeding, avoiding self-medication when a child is sick and having the child immunized regularly. For data collection, we opted to conduct Focus Group Discussions in order to gain richer insights. The findings revealed that a high majority of the participants found the text messages to be useful. More interestingly, just over the span of one month, these participants reported to have a natural change in their behaviors.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all participants for their time and valuable feedback that made this study possible. Our special thanks to the local health care units for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Namal Institute, Mianwali, Pakistan

    Sitwat Usman Langrial

  2. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Jaap Ham

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  1. Sitwat Usman Langrial
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Correspondence to Sitwat Usman Langrial .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Sandra Burri Gram-Hansen

  2. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Tanja Svarre Jonasen

  3. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Cees Midden

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Langrial, S.U., Ham, J. (2020). Mobile-based Text Messages for Improved Pediatric Health in Rural Areas of Pakistan: A Qualitative Study. In: Gram-Hansen, S., Jonasen, T., Midden, C. (eds) Persuasive Technology. Designing for Future Change. PERSUASIVE 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12064. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45712-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45712-9_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45711-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-45712-9

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