ArticlePloS one2014
Mobile phones: the next step towards healthcare delivery in rural India?
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 161 citations in OpenAlex.
- Short message service (SMS) reminders for childhood immunisation in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Text Messaging Interventions on Cancer Screening Rates: A Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Pooled it
- Positive influence of short message service and voice call interventions on adherence and health outcomes in case of chronic disease care: a systematic review.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2016Pooled it
- Willingness to pay for an mHealth anti-retroviral therapy adherence and information tool: Transitioning to sustainability, Call for life randomised study experience in Uganda.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2022Trial
- Facilitators and Barriers to Chronic Disease Self-Management and Mobile Health Interventions for People Living With Diabetes and Hypertension in Cambodia: Qualitative Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Trial
- Article
- Dialing into health: assessing the reach, use, and impact of mobile phones on health awareness among rural women in the Rural Health Training Centre area of District Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Article
- Assessment of knowledge, skills and acceptance of the M-SAKHI mHealth App by Indian maternal and child health community workers using a pre and post-evaluation design.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Investigating Google Trends to forecast acute febrile illness outbreaks in North India reported through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Traditional medicine, environmental exposures, and cultural practices in cancer risk: insights from low- and middle-income countries.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- M-SAKHI - Mobile health solutions to help community providers promote maternal and infant nutrition and health: a description of development of the Program Impact Pathway using Theory of Change.Public health nutrition · 2024Article
- Article
- The Use of Digital Health by South Asian Communities: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Mobile Mental Health in Women's Community-Based Organizations: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant property of a novel floral mouthwash.Bioinformation · 2023Article
- Ten simple rules in biomedical engineering to improve healthcare equity.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- The Acceptability of Adherence Support via Mobile Phones for Antituberculosis Treatment in South India: Exploratory Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Access to and Use of Mobile Phone by Postpartum, Married Women in Punjab, India: Secondary Analysis of mHealth Intervention Pilot Data.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGiven the ubiquity of mobile phones, their use to support healthcare in the Indian context is inevitable. It is however necessary to assess end-user perceptions regarding mobile health interventions especially in the rural Indian context prior to its use in healthcare. This would contextualize the use of mobile phone communication for health to 70% of the country's population that resides in rural India.
objectivesTo explore the acceptability of delivering healthcare interventions through mobile phones among users in a village in rural Bangalore.
methodsThis was an exploratory study of 488 mobile phone users, residing in a village, near Bangalore city, Karnataka, South India. A pretested, translated, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data on mobile phone usage patterns and acceptability of the mobile phone, as a tool for health-related communication. The data is described using basic statistical measures.
resultsThe primary use of mobile phones was to make or receive phone calls (100%). Text messaging (SMS) was used by only 70 (14%) of the respondents. Most of the respondents, 484 (99%), were willing to receive health-related information on their mobile phones and did not consider receiving such information, an intrusion into their personal life. While receiving reminders for drug adherence was acceptable to most 479 (98%) of our respondents, 424 (89%) preferred voice calls alone to other forms of communication. Nearly all were willing to use their mobile phones to communicate with health personnel in emergencies and 367 (75%) were willing to consult a doctor via the phone in an acute illness. Factors such as sex, English literacy, employment status, and presence of chronic disease affected preferences regarding mode and content of communication.
conclusionThe mobile phone, as a tool for receiving health information and supporting healthcare through mHealth interventions was acceptable in the rural Indian context.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.