Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24363922›Full record

ArticleJournal of global health2013

mHealth Series: Factors influencing sample size calculations for mHealth-based studies - A mixed methods study in rural China.

Michelle Helena van Velthoven, Ye Li, Wei Wang, Xiaozhen Du, Li Chen, Qiong Wu, Azeem Majeed, Yanfeng Zhang, Josip Car

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Article in Journal of global health, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

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6citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Michelle Helena van VelthovenGlobal eHealth Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Ye LiDepartment of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
Wei WangDepartment of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
Xiaozhen DuDepartment of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
Li ChenDepartment of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
Qiong WuDepartment of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
Azeem MajeedGlobal eHealth Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Yanfeng ZhangDepartment of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
Josip CarGlobal eHealth Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAn important issue for mHealth evaluation is the lack of information for sample size calculations.

objectiveTo explore factors that influence sample size calculations for mHealth-based studies and to suggest strategies for increasing the participation rate.

methodsWe explored factors influencing recruitment and follow-up of participants (caregivers of children) in an mHealth text messaging data collection cross-over study. With help of village doctors, we recruited 1026 (25%) caregivers of children under five out of the 4170 registered. To explore factors influencing recruitment and provide recommendations for improving recruitment, we conducted semi-structured interviews with village doctors. Of the 1014 included participants, 662 (65%) responded to the first question about willingness to participate, 538 (53%) responded to the first survey question and 356 (35%) completed the text message survey. To explore factors influencing follow-up and provide recommendations for improving follow-up, we conducted interviews with participants. We added views from the researchers who were involved in the study to contextualize the findings.

resultsWE FOUND SEVERAL FACTORS INFLUENCING RECRUITMENT RELATED TO THE FOLLOWING THEMES: experiences with recruitment, village doctors' work, village doctors' motivations, caregivers' characteristics, caregivers' motivations. Village doctors gave several recommendations for ways to recruit more caregivers and we added our views to these. We found the following factors influencing follow-up: mobile phone usage, ability to use mobile phone, problems with mobile phone, checking mobile phone, available time, paying back text message costs, study incentives, subjective norm, culture, trust, perceived usefulness of process, perceived usefulness of outcome, perceived ease of use, attitude, behavioural intention to use, and actual use. From our perspective, factors influencing follow-up were: different caregivers participating in face-to-face and text message survey, sending text messages manually, participants responding incorrectly, and technical issues. Participants provided several recommendations for improving follow-up and we added our views to these.

conclusionsThis is the first study to evaluate factors influencing recruitment and follow-up of participants in an mHealth study in a middle-income setting. More work is needed to assess effectiveness of our suggested strategies. This work would improve evaluation of mHealth interventions.

Identifiers

PMID24363922
PMCPMC3868817

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.