Use of mobile phones and television for essential obstetric care among women availing maternal and child health services at a rural maternity hospital in South Karnataka
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Date
2019-06
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine
Abstract
Background: To improve on Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Rates, newer technologies need to be explored to achieve Sustainable Development Goals of 2030. Objectives: To assess the use of mobile phones for essential obstetric care and associated factors among women availing obstetric services at a rural maternity hospital in South Karnataka. Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was done among the women availing obstetric services in Snehalaya Hospital, Solur in Ramnagara District. Results: There were 236 women included in the study, with a mean age 23.3 (3.22) and 11.78 (2.87) mean years of completed education. 99.15% had mobile phones but only 65% among them had their own phone. None of the women received text messages from MCTS (Government MCH Texts). Of the 53.4% women who had smartphone at home, only 42.4% used the smartphone to search for general health information and none of them used their mobile phone to access essential obstetric care. 48.2% watched health related advertisements and promotions on TV. Antenatal care was adequate among the women, but birth preparedness was found to be poor. Conclusion: The rural women in this study had poor utilization of mobile phones in obstetric care despite the presence of smartphones at home.
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Keywords
Pregnancy, Cell Phone, Cross-Sectional Studies, Hospitals, Maternity
Citation
Arasu S, Jain A, Lakra S, Sophia A, Johnson AR. Use of mobile phones and television for essential obstetric care among women availing maternal and child health services at a rural maternity hospital in South Karnataka. Indian Journal of Community Health. 2019 Jun; 31(2): 208-212