Improving physical and mental health through mobile technologies in Burkina Faso

The research investigates whether SMS messages improve patients’ physical and mental health in a representative sample of 3,838 PLHIV in Burkina Faso.

Between 2015 and 2017, the research team implemented a five-arm randomized controlled trial. Messages varied per type (text or image) and frequency (once or twice per week). Four rounds of data were collected at baseline, six, 12 and 24 months into the intervention.

Research outcomes

Primary outcomes were (i) retention, (ii) adherence, and (iii) physical health.

Secondary outcomes were subjective and mental health. Based on the intent-to-treat estimates, patients benefitting from any version of the intervention did not improve retention, adherence or physical health but their mental health became better.

The largest impact occurred in the first year of the intervention indicating that mobile technologies are most effective in the short-term and should not necessarily be cornerstones of long-term healthcare provision.

She found no difference in impacts as consequence of the type or frequency of the SMS messages suggesting that low-level adoption of mobile technologies can be sufficient to reap benefits in healthcare. Moreover, she observed that lack of literacy and more importantly ICT literacy resulted in awareness of the messages being lower than the number of message recipients.

Among those who are aware of the intervention, the messages improved retention and biomarkers in addition to mental health. Thus, while the findings show that physical health might only benefit to a small extent, the SMS messages had a strong and persistent impact on mental health.

To date, most research about mobile technologies for health focuses on improving biomarkers. Yet, our findings revealed that future research should further disentangle the role of mobile technologies for mental health.