Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36085027›Full record

SynthesisBMC health services research2022

Perspectives of health care professionals' on delivering mHealth sexual and reproductive health services in rural settings in low-and-middle-income countries: a qualitative systematic review.

Alexander Suuk Laar, Melissa L Harris, Desalegn Markos Shifti, Deborah Loxton

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
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  8. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Alexander Suuk LaarThe University of Newcastle, Australia, School of Public Health and Medicine, Centre for Women's Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Alexander.Laar@uon.edu.au.
Melissa L HarrisThe University of Newcastle, Australia, School of Public Health and Medicine, Centre for Women's Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia.
Desalegn Markos ShiftiThe University of Newcastle, Australia, School of Public Health and Medicine, Centre for Women's Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia.
Deborah LoxtonThe University of Newcastle, Australia, School of Public Health and Medicine, Centre for Women's Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn low to middle income countries (LMICs) with limited health care providers (HCPs) and health infrastructure, digital technologies are rapidly being adopted to help augment service delivery. In this sphere, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are increasingly leveraging mobile health (mHealth) technologies to improve service and information provision in rural areas. This systematic review aimed to identify HCPs perspectives on barriers to, and facilitators of, mobile phone based SRH services and information in rural areas of LMICs from current literature.

methodsSearches were conducted using the following databases: Medline, Scopus, PsychINFO, CINAHL and Cochrane Library. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, twelve full text qualitative studies published in English between January 2000 and December 2020 were included. The methodological quality of papers was assessed by two authors using the critical skills appraisal programme and synthesized using the narrative thematic analysis approach.

resultsPositive HCPs experiences surrounding the provision of mHealth based SRH services in LMICs included saving consultation time, ability to shift tasks, reduction in travel costs, easy referrals and follow up on clients, convenience in communicating health information confidentially, and the ability to consult groups of clients remotely rather than face-to-face. Barriers to the provision of mHealth reported by HCPs included lack of technological infrastructure, unreliable networks, limited power, the cost of mobile airtime/data and mobile phones and limited technological literacy or skills.

conclusionsImplementing innovative mHealth based SRH services could bridge a service provision and access gap of SRH information and services in rural areas of LMICs. Despite the advantages of this technology, several challenges associated with delivering mHealth SRH services need to be urgently addressed to enable scale-up and integration of sexual and reproductive mHealth into rural health systems.

Indexed as

Cell PhoneReproductive Health ServicesTelemedicineDeveloping CountriesHealth PersonnelHumansHealth care professionalsInformation and servicesLow-and middle-income countriesmHealthMobile phonesSexual and reproductive health

Identifiers

PMID36085027
PMCPMC9461099

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.