SynthesisPloS one2022
Two-way text message interventions and healthcare outcomes in Africa: Systematic review of randomized trials with meta-analyses on appointment attendance and medicine adherence.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- User-Centered Design to Develop Automated Short Message Service Messaging for Patient Support of Rheumatic Heart Disease Secondary Antibiotic Prophylaxis.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2024Trial
- Self-management program and Black women with hypertension: Randomized controlled trial substudy.Research in nursing & health · 2023Trial
- Expanding the Evidence on the Safety and Efficiency of 2-Way Text Messaging-Based Telehealth for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Follow-up Compared With In-Person Reviews: Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural and Urban South Africa.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Integrating clinical decision support and mobile health for differentiated HIV service delivery in Lesotho (VITAL): a cluster-randomised non-inferiority trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Review
- Associations between text communication engagement and maternal-neonatal outcomes in the Mobile WACh NEO Trial.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Looking under the hood of a hybrid two-way texting intervention to improve early retention on antiretroviral therapy in Malawi: an implementation fidelity evaluation.Implementation science : IS · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of text messages in the adherence to COVID-19 prevention practices: a quasi-experimental study.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Text message reminders for visit adherence among non-communicable disease patients in Haiti: A pilot study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Looking under the hood of a hybrid two-way texting intervention to improve early retention on antiretroviral therapy in Malawi: an implementation fidelity evaluation.Research square · 2024Article
- Assessing the Usage and Usability of a Mental Health Advice Telephone Service in Uganda: Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Evaluating barriers to reaching women with public health information in remote communities in Mali.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Centering healthcare workers in digital health design: Usability and acceptability of two-way texting to improve retention in antiretroviral therapy in a public HIV clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi.PLOS digital health · 2024Article
- Article
- A Community-Based, Mobile Electronic Medical Record System App for High-Quality, Integrated Antiretroviral Therapy in Lilongwe, Malawi: Design Process and Pilot Implementation.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- An mHealth Intervention to Improve Guardians' Adherence to Children's Follow-Up Care for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Tanzania (GuardiansCan Project): Protocol for a Development and Feasibility Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe growing access to mobile phones in Africa has led to an increase in mobile health interventions, including an increasing number of two-way text message interventions. However, their effect on healthcare outcomes in an African context is uncertain. This systematic review aims to landscape randomized trials involving two-way text message interventions and estimate their effect on healthcare outcomes.
methodsWe searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, The Global Health Library (up to 12 August 2021) and trial registries (up to 24 April 2020). Published and unpublished trials conducted in Africa comparing two-way text message interventions with standard care and/or one-way text message interventions were included. Trials that reported dichotomous effect estimates on healthcare appointment attendance and/or medicine adherence were assessed for risk of bias and included in meta-analyses. Results of other outcomes were reported descriptively.
resultsWe included 31 trials (28,563 participants) all set in Sub-Saharan Africa with a wide range of clinical conditions. Overall, ten different trials were included in the primary meta-analyses, and two of these had data on both medicine adherence and appointment attendance. An additional two trials were included in sensitivity analyses. Of the 12 included trials, three were judged as overall low risk of bias and nine as overall high risk of bias trials. Two-way text messages did not improve appointment attendance, RR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.95-1.12, I2 = 53% (5 trials, 4374 participants) but improved medicine adherence compared to standard care, RR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.07-1.21, I2 = 8% (6 trials, 2783 participants).
conclusionTwo-way text messages seemingly improve medicine adherence but has an uncertain effect on appointment attendance compared to standard care. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42020175810.
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Registered trials
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