Digital Health Promotion in Iringa, Tanzania

NCT03808597 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: DigI
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 600
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 6

Brief Summary

Increased health education has the potential to facilitate better use of health care services and to promote early treatment, thus it can strengthen the health care system, and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality. In this study, we will develop and test the effect of digital health messages related to HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis (TSCT) (the intervention diseases) in Migoli and Izazi (the intervention villages), in Iringa, Tanzania (TZ). The intervention is planned as follows: A digital platform, providing the intervention villages with digital health messages related to the above-mentioned diseases, will be implemented in TZ in 2019. The platform will be accessible free of charge, through own devices and tablets based in the local Wi-Fi spots in the villages. In the first part of this project, the doctoral research fellow will participate in developing the digital health messages, together with experts from the medical and teaching environments in Tanzania, Norway, Germany and USA. The second part of the PhD-project consists of a cluster non-randomised controlled trial and semi-structured interviews in Tanzania. The digital health messages will be physically shown to the participants in the intervention group. The study is planned to investigate the knowledge related to the intervention diseases, before the intervention, immediately after exposure to the intervention, and at follow-up points throughout one year, after the intervention has been implemented. Semi-structured interviews with clients (users of the intervention) from each of the intervention villages are included, to explore the perception and reception of the intervention. The baseline study and the immediate after survey will take place in Tanzania in Q1 2019, while the other follow-up studies and interviews (3, 6 and 12 months after baseline) will be undertaken throughout one year.

Conditions

HIV Infections; Tuberculosis; Cysticercosis; Tapeworm Pork

Keywords

digital health; digital health promotion; health promotion; disease prevention; HIV; Tuberculosis; Cysticercosis

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Baseline Health knowledge score

  Score calculated from the questionnaire with questions related to HIV, TB and TSCT. The score is calculated on the number of correct answers. The questionnaire contains 42 questions. If each question is correctly answered, the total score will be 225 (5 point for each question - weighted equally). Higher values represent a better outcome.

  One day

• Change from Baseline Health knowledge score, immediately after exposure

  Score calculated from the questionnaire with questions related to HIV, TB and TSCT. Comparison between baseline score and immediate post intervention score. The score is calculated on the number of correct answers. The questionnaire contains 42 questions. If each question is correctly answered, the total score will be 225 (5 point for each question - weighted equally). Higher values represent a better outcome.

  One day

• Change from Baseline Health knowledge score at 3 months

  Score calculated from the questionnaire with questions related to HIV, TB and TSCT. Comparison between baseline score and post intervention (3 months) score. The score is calculated on the number of correct answers. The questionnaire contains 42 questions. If each question is correctly answered, the total score will be 225 (5 point for each question - weighted equally). Higher values represent a better outcome.

  Up to 3 months

• Change from Baseline Health knowledge score at 6 months

  Score calculated from the questionnaire with questions related to HIV, TB and TSCT. Comparison between baseline score and post intervention (6 months) score. The score is calculated on the number of correct answers. The questionnaire contains 42 questions. If each question is correctly answered, the total score will be 225 (5 point for each question - weighted equally). Higher values represent a better outcome.

  Up to 6 months

• Change from Baseline Health knowledge score at 12 months

  Score calculated from the questionnaire with questions related to HIV, TB and TSCT. Comparison between baseline score and post intervention (12 months) score. The score is calculated on the number of correct answers. The questionnaire contains 42 questions. If each question is correctly answered, the total score will be 225 (5 point for each question - weighted equally). Higher values represent a better outcome.

  Up to 12 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Participants own perspectives on the intervention (qualitative)

  One hour

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

The participants in this group will be exposed to digital health promotion. Please note that the participants are not randomly chosen, but stratified after the project villages. The participants in this group belong to the villages: Izazi and Migoli.

Other: Digital health promotion intervention

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

The participants in this group will be not be exposed to digital health promotion, but the villages will receive the intervention after one year. Please note that the participants are not randomly chosen, but stratified after the project villages. The participants in this group belong to the villages: Kimande and Idodi.

Interventions

Digital health promotion intervention OTHER

Digital health promition related to HIV, Tuberculosis and TSCT in a digital format.

Intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Living in the selected household (15-70 years), at least for the past six months, and at least planning to not move the next 12 months.
• Must be capable and willing to sign written informed consent and thumb-print for illiterate participants

You may not qualify if:

• Planning to be out of the village for more than 6 weeks in the next 12 months
• Those above 71 or under 15
• Not capable of signing consent letter (very sick)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Oslo: lead
• National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania: collaborator
• Sokoine University of Agriculture: collaborator
• Technical University of Munich: collaborator

Study Sites (6)

National Institute for Medical Research / Muhimbili University

Dar es Salaam, Dar, Tanzania

Location

Idodi

Iringa, Tanzania

Location

Izazi

Iringa, Tanzania

Location

Kimande

Iringa, Tanzania

Location

Migoli

Iringa, Tanzania

Location

Sokoine University of Agriculture

Morogoro, Tanzania

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Holst C, Stelzle D, Diep LM, Sukums F, Ngowi B, Noll J, Winkler AS. Improving Health Knowledge Through Provision of Free Digital Health Education to Rural Communities in Iringa, Tanzania: Nonrandomized Intervention Study. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Jul 28;24(7):e37666. doi: 10.2196/37666.

  PMID: 35900820 DERIVED

• Holst C, Sukums F, Ngowi B, Diep LM, Kebede TA, Noll J, Winkler AS. Digital Health Intervention to Increase Health Knowledge Related to Diseases of High Public Health Concern in Iringa, Tanzania: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Apr 22;10(4):e25128. doi: 10.2196/25128.

  PMID: 33885369 DERIVED

Related Links

• Research project site University of Oslo
• Overarching project site

MeSH Terms

Conditions

HIV Infections; Tuberculosis; Cysticercosis; Taeniasis

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Blood-Borne Infections; Communicable Diseases; Infections; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Lentivirus Infections; Retroviridae Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Genital Diseases; Urogenital Diseases; Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes; Immune System Diseases; Mycobacterium Infections; Actinomycetales Infections; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections; Bacterial Infections; Bacterial Infections and Mycoses; Cestode Infections; Helminthiasis; Parasitic Diseases

Study Officials

• Andrea S Winkler, M, PhdD

  University of Oslo

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Doctoral Research Fellow

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 2, 2019
• First Posted: January 17, 2019
• Study Start: April 1, 2019
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2020
• Study Completion: June 1, 2020
• Last Updated: November 4, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: 2020

Locations

TA (6)