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Training Years: 2014-2015

Training Site: Instituto de Efectividad Clinica y Sanitaria (IECS)

Country: Argentina

Mentors: Jose Belizan, MD, PhD; Pierre Buekens, MD, PhD

Title: Text message intervention (TMI) for follow up of infants born to mothers positive for Chagas disease in Tucuman, Argentina

Project Objectives:  

Aim 1: To determine the access to and utilization of mHealth interventions in urban and rural populations. We will use four different metrics to determine the urban/ rural status of the participants in the study: survey questionnaire, population density at the GPS coordinates for the patient’s home, the distance from the patient’s home to the nearest hospital and travel time from the patient’s home to the nearest hospital. We will then calculate the proportion of women having access to a cell phone (access), and response rates and utilization of mHealth interventions in the urban and rural populations.

Aim 2: To determine barriers to utilizing mHealth in urban and rural populations. To elucidate factors that prevent urban and rural populations from utilizing mHealth interventions, we will compare responses to survey questionnaires in the two populations. Factors to be explored include the availability of cellular service, the ability to receive SMS on the device, usefulness of the message, and the willingness to enroll in the mHealth intervention.

NIH Support:  Fogarty fellowship postdoctoral training award

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