Table 1.
Socio-demographic characteristics and receipt of Wazazi Nipendeni short message service (SMS) among study participants (n 298)*
| Women (n 205) | Men (n 93) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | n | % | n | % |
| Characteristics of participants | ||||
| Age in years | ||||
| Mean | 27·6 | 31·8 | ||
| sd | 7·5 | 8·1 | ||
| Mobile phone ownership | ||||
| Owns phone | 98 | 47·8 | 93 | 100·0 |
| Owns phone and has access to additional phone(s) | 15 | 7·3 | 0 | 0 |
| Does not own phone but has access to phone(s) | 92 | 44·9 | 0 | 0 |
| Education | ||||
| None/primary school incomplete | 36 | 17·6 | 9 | 9·7 |
| Primary school complete | 148 | 72·2 | 67 | 72·0 |
| Secondary school complete or higher | 19 | 9·3 | 16 | 17·3 |
| Missing | 2 | 1·0 | 1 | 1·1 |
| Swahili literacy | ||||
| Cannot read | 8 | 6·5 | 4 | 4·3 |
| Can read | 116 | 93·6 | 89 | 95·7 |
| RCT study arm | ||||
| SMS arm | 92 | 44·9 | 39 | 41·9 |
| SMS + IPC arm | 113 | 55·1 | 54 | 58·1 |
| Marital status of women | ||||
| Husband/partner lives with her | 183 | 89·7 | – | |
| Husband/partner lives elsewhere | 7 | 3·4 | ||
| Not married or cohabiting | 14 | 6·9 | ||
| Household infrastructure and socio-economic status | ||||
| Number of household members | ||||
| Mean | 4·8 | 4·5 | ||
| sd | 1·8 | 1·7 | ||
| Number of children in household | ||||
| Mean | 2·3 | 2·1 | ||
| sd | 1·4 | 1·2 | ||
| Source of drinking water | ||||
| Dug well without pump | 73 | 35·8 | 43 | 46·2 |
| Rainwater | 98 | 48·0 | 40 | 43·0 |
| Other improved source | 20 | 9·8 | 7 | 7·5 |
| Other unimproved source | 13 | 6·4 | 3 | 3·2 |
| Improved sanitation facility | 32 | 15·7 | 13 | 14·0 |
| Electricity in household | 180 | 88·3 | 85 | 91·4 |
| Household in lowest two quintiles of wealth* | 52 | 25·4 | 17 | 18·3 |
| Household food insecurity access category | ||||
| Food secure | 102 | 49·8 | 48 | 51·6 |
| Mildly food insecure | 13 | 6·3 | 5 | 5·4 |
| Moderately food insecure | 55 | 26·8 | 30 | 32·3 |
| Severely food insecure | 35 | 17·1 | 10 | 10·8 |
| Receipt of Wazazi Nipendeni text messages | ||||
| Number of WN messages received over the past 30 d | ||||
| Zero | 83 | 40·5 | 38 | 40·9 |
| 1 or 2 messages | 18 | 8·8 | 10 | 10·8 |
| Between 3 and 10 messages | 56 | 27·3 | 24 | 25·8 |
| More than 10 messages | 26 | 12·7 | 14 | 15·1 |
| Don’t know/don’t remember | 22 | 10·7 | 7 | 7·5 |
| Number of WN messages received over the past week | ||||
| Zero | 100 | 48·8 | 46 | 49·5 |
| 1 message | 33 | 16·1 | 11 | 11·8 |
| 2–3 messages | 26 | 12·7 | 23 | 24·7 |
| More than 3 messages | 24 | 11·7 | 9 | 9·7 |
| Don’t know/don’t remember | 22 | 10·7 | 4 | 4·3 |
| Time elapsed after WN registration before first message was received | ||||
| Within 1–2 d | 54 | 26·3 | 14 | 15·1 |
| Within 1 week | 66 | 32·2 | 38 | 40·9 |
| After 1 week, within 2 months | 64 | 31·2 | 29 | 31·2 |
| After 3 or more months | 6 | 2·9 | 2 | 2·2 |
| Don’t know/don’t remember | 15 | 7·3 | 10 | 10·8 |
RCT, randomised controlled trial; IPC, interpersonal counselling; WN, Wazazi Nipendeni.
*
National wealth quintiles were calculated using the Equity Tool from the 2015 Tanzania DHS.