Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial
BackgroundGlobally, over 20 million children are unvaccinated and over 25 million missed their follow-up doses during the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, they face vaccine-preventable diseases and unnecessary deaths. This is especially the case for those with HIV or living in vulner...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2023-08-01
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| Series: | JMIR Research Protocols |
| Online Access: | https://www.researchprotocols.org/2023/1/e47018 |
| _version_ | 1797748897641136128 |
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| author | Yayah Emerencia Ngah Ghazal Raoufi Maral Amirkhani Ashkan Esmaeili Rasa Nikooifard Shidrokh Ghaemi Mood Ava Rahmanian Minyahil Tadesse Boltena Eresso Aga Ujjwal Neogi George Ikomey Mondinde Ziad El-Khatib |
| author_facet | Yayah Emerencia Ngah Ghazal Raoufi Maral Amirkhani Ashkan Esmaeili Rasa Nikooifard Shidrokh Ghaemi Mood Ava Rahmanian Minyahil Tadesse Boltena Eresso Aga Ujjwal Neogi George Ikomey Mondinde Ziad El-Khatib |
| author_sort | Yayah Emerencia Ngah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundGlobally, over 20 million children are unvaccinated and over 25 million missed their follow-up doses during the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, they face vaccine-preventable diseases and unnecessary deaths. This is especially the case for those with HIV or living in vulnerable settings. Using cell phones to send reminders to parents has been shown to improve vaccination rates.
ObjectiveWe aim to determine whether implementation of an automated SMS reminder will improve child vaccination rates in a turbulent, semiurban/semirural setting in a low-income country.
MethodsThis will be a nonrandomized controlled trial that will be conducted at Azire Integrated Health Centre, Bamenda, Cameroon.
ResultsA total of 200 parents per study group (aged over 18 years) who are registered at the clinic at least one month prior to the study will be recruited. The intervention group will receive 2 reminders: 1 week and 2 days prior to the scheduled vaccination. For those who miss their appointments, a reminder will be sent 1 week after their missed appointment. The control group will receive the regular care provided at the clinic. Baseline information, clinical visit data, and vaccination records will be collected for both groups. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize baseline characteristics between and within clusters and groups. The Fisher exact test will be used to compare parent-child units who return for follow-up visits (as a percentage) and children vaccinated as scheduled (as a percentage) between the study groups. Finally, we will compare how many members of both study groups return for 1 follow-up visit using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.
ConclusionsDue to limited effective child vaccination interventions in unstable settings, this study will be of high importance for suggesting a holistic approach to improve child vaccination and public health.
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/47018 |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:11:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-70004e135a424b7da6644663ca1eaf07 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1929-0748 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:11:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Research Protocols |
| spelling | doaj.art-70004e135a424b7da6644663ca1eaf072023-08-09T12:45:39ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Research Protocols1929-07482023-08-0112e4701810.2196/47018Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled TrialYayah Emerencia Ngahhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6468-5377Ghazal Raoufihttps://orcid.org/0009-0006-3286-9415Maral Amirkhanihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4259-9085Ashkan Esmaeilihttps://orcid.org/0009-0006-1075-2953Rasa Nikooifardhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9383-2604Shidrokh Ghaemi Moodhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2278-8305Ava Rahmanianhttps://orcid.org/0009-0005-9623-0189Minyahil Tadesse Boltenahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5081-1480Eresso Agahttps://orcid.org/0009-0008-4091-7215Ujjwal Neogihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0844-3338George Ikomey Mondindehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2479-0516Ziad El-Khatibhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0756-7280 BackgroundGlobally, over 20 million children are unvaccinated and over 25 million missed their follow-up doses during the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, they face vaccine-preventable diseases and unnecessary deaths. This is especially the case for those with HIV or living in vulnerable settings. Using cell phones to send reminders to parents has been shown to improve vaccination rates. ObjectiveWe aim to determine whether implementation of an automated SMS reminder will improve child vaccination rates in a turbulent, semiurban/semirural setting in a low-income country. MethodsThis will be a nonrandomized controlled trial that will be conducted at Azire Integrated Health Centre, Bamenda, Cameroon. ResultsA total of 200 parents per study group (aged over 18 years) who are registered at the clinic at least one month prior to the study will be recruited. The intervention group will receive 2 reminders: 1 week and 2 days prior to the scheduled vaccination. For those who miss their appointments, a reminder will be sent 1 week after their missed appointment. The control group will receive the regular care provided at the clinic. Baseline information, clinical visit data, and vaccination records will be collected for both groups. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize baseline characteristics between and within clusters and groups. The Fisher exact test will be used to compare parent-child units who return for follow-up visits (as a percentage) and children vaccinated as scheduled (as a percentage) between the study groups. Finally, we will compare how many members of both study groups return for 1 follow-up visit using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. ConclusionsDue to limited effective child vaccination interventions in unstable settings, this study will be of high importance for suggesting a holistic approach to improve child vaccination and public health. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/47018https://www.researchprotocols.org/2023/1/e47018 |
| spellingShingle | Yayah Emerencia Ngah Ghazal Raoufi Maral Amirkhani Ashkan Esmaeili Rasa Nikooifard Shidrokh Ghaemi Mood Ava Rahmanian Minyahil Tadesse Boltena Eresso Aga Ujjwal Neogi George Ikomey Mondinde Ziad El-Khatib Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial JMIR Research Protocols |
| title | Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial |
| title_full | Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial |
| title_fullStr | Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial |
| title_short | Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial |
| title_sort | testing the impact of phone texting reminders for children s immunization appointments in rural cameroon protocol for a nonrandomized controlled trial |
| url | https://www.researchprotocols.org/2023/1/e47018 |
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