Table 2. Feasibility and acceptability of SMS reminders and notifications.
| Feasibility and acceptability of SMS reminders to patients | |
| N = 39 (i.e. 19 in the daily SMS arm and 20 in the weekly SMS arm who completed the study) | |
| Issue | Comments |
| Number of SMS reminders sent as planned | • 1913/2395 (80%) of daily SMS • 631/872 (72%) of weekly SMS |
| SMS reminders not delivered due to technical challenges (e.g., poor network coverage) | • 132/2395 (13%) of daily SMS • 183/872 (21%) of weekly SMS |
| Number of SMS sent later due to technical issues such as poor network | • 161/2395 (7%) daily SMS • 58/872 (7%) weekly |
| Number of triggered SMS sent | • 113/1356 (8%) • 296/1397 (21%) |
| Acceptability | |
|
Preference of SMS type/frequency* Daily reminder versus triggered or weekly (N = 19) Weekly reminders versus triggered or daily (N = 20) |
17 (89%) from the daily arm preferred daily SMS reminders to triggered SMS reminders None of the participants who received daily SMS wished they received weekly reminders. 16 (80%) from the weekly arm preferred triggered SMS reminders to weekly 17 (85%) who received weekly reminders wished they were receiving daily reminders |
| Default reminder Personalized reminders |
10 (26%) preferred default SMS text (i.e. “This is your reminder”) 29 (74%) preferred personalized SMS text—reminders formulated by TB patients themselves (e.g. “How are you today”, “Take care”, “Hello, have you had lunch”, “Football”, “How are you moving on”) |
| Feasibility and acceptability of notifications to social supporters N = 39 (i.e. 19 in the daily SMS arm and 20 in the weekly SMS arm | |
| Number of SMS notifications sent as planned | • 1577/2395 (66%) for daily SMS • 740/872 (85%) for weekly SMS |
| SMS notifications not delivered due to technical challenges (e.g., poor network coverage) |
• 639/2396 (27%) of daily notifications • 45/872 (5%) of weekly notifications |
| Number of SMS notifications sent later due to technical issues such as poor network | • 180/2395 (8%) of daily notifications • 87/872 (10%) of weekly notifications |
*Preference for SMS type/frequency was collected via patient questionnaires; all other data were collected from Wisepill device.