Women's Access to Mobile Phones and Willingness to Utilize mHealth Interventions for Oral Health Promotion in Egypt

March 24, 2021 updated by: Mariam Ayman Amin Sharaf, Ain Shams University

Women's Access to Mobile Phones and Willingness to Utilize mHealth Interventions for Oral Health Promotion in Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Study

In 2019, it was reported that there were 27.9 million smart phone users and 93.7 million phone subscribers in Egypt. This means that mHealth (which is the use of mobile phones in delivering health-care and public health services) could be a major asset to delivering oral health education to the secluded rural areas or the more under privileged remote areas in the future. However, in order to employ mHealth effectively, it's essential to estimate the percentage of users who, not only have access to mobile technology, but are also willing to utilize mHealth interventions. It is also of great importance to understand the patients' preferences regarding its use. This is in order to tailor an intervention that satisfies their needs for oral health related services. Therefore the aim of this study is to determine the access of Egyptian women to mobile phones, as well as their willingness to utilize mHealth interventions for oral health promotion.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Detailed Description

Dental caries and periodontal diseases contribute greatly to the global burden of oral diseases. Unfortunately, this is more observed in the developing countries. This is mainly attributed to the shortage of oral health personnel that Africa suffers from, which results in oral health services being offered mostly to central and urban areas of Africa.

Women, in particular, suffer from health inequalities. Those inequalities are mainly related to socioeconomic status and the geographic region in which they reside.

A study conducted in Egypt in 2014 underlined the oral health inequalities present within the country. This study emphasized the need for oral health promotion plans which are specially directed towards individuals with low-income. That is to provide health equity in terms of access to oral health-care services and quality treatment for all the Egyptian population.

One way to address this problem is the use of Electronic health or "eHealth". mHealth, which is a subset of eHealth, is the use of mobile phones to deliver health-care services through short messaging services (SMS), smart phone applications and voice calls. Several studies highlighted that mHealth can be an effective tool in delivering public health services in a cost effective way and without any geographic barriers.

The multitasking capabilities of mobile phones provide a great chance for chronic disease prevention and improvement as it offers remote health education. Moreover, it provides the patients with increased care and allows for self-management. Mobile phones can also be used as reminders for medications and appointments and allow for immediate contact between the doctor and the patient. This way, mHealth offers uninterrupted care, close monitoring to the patients and rapid response from the doctors' side, this is of course regarded as a more comfortable approach to the patients.

The challenge still lies in the adoption and acceptance of mHealth by the patients, which is controlled by the user's willingness to utilize this new technology. This problem is even more observed in the developing countries. Although mHealth interventions were previously attempted to improve oral health, none were implemented in Egypt. This is the first study to explore the potential use of mHealth for oral health promotion in Egypt.

Study procedure:

  • After a comprehensive literature review using electronic databases (PubMed and Web of Science), studies assessing the accessibility to mobile phones, ability to use mobile phones, willingness to utilize mHealth interventions, usage patterns of mobile phones, preferences regarding mHealth, barriers and motivators for participating in mHealth were identified.
  • Using nine similar studies, a structured English language interviewer-administered questionnaire was developed after modifying their original questionnaires to serve the aim of our study and ensure culture appropriateness.
  • Forward translation of the English questionnaire into Arabic language was done .
  • One well-trained investigator will conduct all interviews.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

541

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Egypt
      • Cairo, Egypt
        • Recruiting
        • Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Recruited from the outpatient clinics of Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University and five primary healthcare centers located in Cairo and Giza governorates which are affiliated by Egyptian Ministry of Health.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Egyptian women.
  • Older than 18 years of age.
  • Currently residing in Egypt.
  • Mentally and medically fit to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Women who do not consent to participate in the study.
  • Women seeking emergency dental treatment.
  • Women who do not own or share a mobile phone. Their number will be reported by using a flow chart

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Other
  • Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percentage of women in Egypt who have access to mobile phones.
Time Frame: January 2020-June 2020
Arabic language interviewer-administered questionnaire
January 2020-June 2020
Percentage of women in Egypt who are willing to utilize mHealth interventions for oral health promotion.
Time Frame: January 2020-June 2020
Arabic language interviewer-administered questionnaire
January 2020-June 2020

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mobile phones' usage patterns by women in Egypt.
Time Frame: January 2020-July 2020
Arabic language interviewer-administered questionnaire
January 2020-July 2020
Percentage of different methods preferred by women in Egypt for receiving mHealth services
Time Frame: January 2020-July 2020
Arabic language interviewer-administered questionnaire
January 2020-July 2020

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Ain Shams University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Mariam Sharaf, Masters, Ain Shams University
  • Principal Investigator: Amira Badran, Doctorate, Ain Shams University
  • Principal Investigator: Reham Abou ElFadl, Doctorate, Ain Shams University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 11, 2020

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

September 1, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

October 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 3, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 3, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

February 5, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 26, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2021

Last Verified

March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 827

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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