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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

A quasi-experimental text messaging trial to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health and smoking knowledge in Indonesia

Alisa E. Pedrana A B H , Jamie Pina C , Retna S. Padmawati D E , Ririh Zuhrina D , Lutfan Lazuardi F , Megan S. C. Lim A B G , Margaret E. Hellard A B G and Yayi S. Prabandari D E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, 85 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.

B Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.

C Public Health Informatics Program, RTI International, Waltham, MA 02452, USA.

D Department of Health Behavior, Environment Health and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogjakarta 55281, Indonesia.

E Center of Health Behavior and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia.

F SIMKES – Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogjakarta 55281, Indonesia.

G Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.

H Corresponding Author. Email: alisa.pedrana@burnet.edu.au

Sexual Health 17(2) 167-177 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH18199
Submitted: 23 November 2018  Accepted: 9 September 2019   Published: 5 February 2020

Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2020 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a text message intervention to improve young people’s knowledge of sexual reproductive health (SRH) and harms related to smoking in Indonesia. Methods: A quasi-experimental short message service (SMS) trial of young people aged 16–24 years receiving twice weekly SMS over a 10-week intervention period. Pre- and post-online demographic and risk behaviour surveys were used to assess changes in knowledge. Among respondents who completed both surveys, we assessed changes in knowledge before and after SMS intervention using paired McNemar’s test and differences in mean knowledge score using a paired t-test. Results: In total, 555 eligible young people were enrolled into the SMS intervention; 235 (42%) completed a follow-up survey, of which 198 (84%) were matched to a baseline survey. Median age of participants was 19 years and the majority were female (63%). The mean knowledge score significantly increased between baseline and follow-up surveys for SRH questions [2.7, (95% CI 2.47, 2.94) vs 3.4 (95% CI 2.99, 3.81) (P = <0.01)] and smoking-related questions [3.8 (95% CI 3.66, 3.99) vs 4.1 (95% CI 3.99, 4.28) (P = 0.03)]. A majority of participants reported that the SMS intervention increased their knowledge (95%) and were a useful reminder (95%). Conclusions: An SMS intervention was feasible, acceptable and improved adolescents’ SRH knowledge and smoking knowledge in a low- to middle-income setting. SMS interventions targeting young people need to be scaled up, with the potential to explore additional topics around healthy lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity.

Additional keywords: adolescent health, health promotion, mobile phone.


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