Mobile Health Technologies May Be Acceptable Tools for Providing Social Support to Tuberculosis Patients in Rural Uganda: A Parallel Mixed-Method Study.
Mobile Health Technologies May Be Acceptable Tools for Providing Social Support to Tuberculosis Patients in Rural Uganda: A Parallel Mixed-Method Study.
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DOI：
10.1155/2020/7401045
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发表时间：
2020-01-01
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Haberer, Jessica E
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Musiimenta, Angella;Tumuhimbise, Wilson;Haberer, Jessica E
背景：社会支持已被证明可以减轻药物依从性的社会障碍，提高结核病（TB）的治疗成功率。然而，利用移动技术激活结核病患者的社会支持系统尚未得到很好的探索。此外，还缺乏将支持性短信（短信息服务）文本与结核病药物依从性电子监测联系起来的研究。目的：探讨结核病患者目前获得社会支持的情况，以及利用实时依从性监测干预措施支持药物依从性的看法。方法：我们有目的地选择拥有手机、服用结核病药物≥1个月、正在Mbarara地区转诊医院接受治疗、报告有≥1名社会支持者的结核病患者。我们采访了这些患者和他们的社会支持者，了解他们获得社会支持的途径和看法。我们使用STATA 13来描述参与者的社会人口学和社会支持特征。使用内容分析对定性数据进行分析，得出描述可访问性和感知的类别。结果：结核病患者报告称，他们请求并接受了各种不同形式的社会支持，包括通过手机获得的工具性支持（例如，交通费和其他需求以及药物提醒）、情感支持（例如，依从性咨询）和信息性支持（例如，药物副作用）。参与者认为，短信通知可以通过建立定期服药的个人义务感来激励服药依从性。与会者预期，有限的财政资源和关系动态可能限制社会支持的提供，特别是当患者和社会支持者不以他们的期望为导向时。结论：移动电话可以为结核病患者的服药依从性提供社会支持的替代方法，特别是在患者与社会支持者关系不密切的情况下。进一步的努力应侧重于优化基于手机的应用程序的设计，以便为结核病患者提供社会支持，并培训结核病患者和社会支持者，以满足他们的期望。
BACKGROUND: Social support has been shown to mitigate social barriers to medication adherence and improve tuberculosis (TB) treatment success rates. The use of mobile technology to activate social support systems among TB patients, however, has not been well explored. Moreover, studies that tie supportive SMS (Short Message Service) texts to electronic monitoring of TB medication adherence are lacking.OBJECTIVE: To explore TB patients' current access to social support and perceptions of utilizing real-time adherence monitoring interventions to support medication adherence.METHODS: We purposively selected TB patients who owned phones, had been taking TB medications for ≥1 month, were receiving their treatment from Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, and reported having ≥1 social supporter. We interviewed these patients and their social supporters about their access to and perceptions of social support. We used STATA 13 to describe participants' sociodemographic and social support characteristics. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis to derive categories describing accessibility and perceptions.RESULTS: TB patients report requesting and receiving a variety of different forms of social support, including instrumental (e.g., money for transport and other needs and medication reminders), emotional (e.g., adherence counselling), and informational (e.g., medication side effects) support through mobile phones. Participants felt that SMS notifications may motivate medication adherence by creating a personal sense of obligation to take medications regularly. Participants anticipated that limited financial resources and relationship dynamics could constrain the provision of social support especially when patients and social supporters are not oriented about their expectations.CONCLUSION: Mobile telephones could provide alternative approaches to providing social support for TB medication adherence especially where patients do not stay close to their social supporters. Further efforts should focus on optimized designs of mobile phone-based applications for providing social support to TB patients and training of TB patients and social supporters to match their expectations.