Abstract:
Background: Maternal mortality remains high in many low-and middle-income countries(LMIC) including Ethiopia. Effective communication is vital for the delivery and receipt of sufficient health care services. The rapid growth in mobile phone penetration and use of Short Message Service (SMS) based mhealth interventions is proposed as an effective solution to improve maternal health in LMIC where maternal mortality is higher and limited access to health services is linked to low antenatal care(ANC) utilization. However, there are no published studies reporting data on willingness to receive SMS based mhealth intervention to ANC service among pregnant women in Ethiopian context. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess willingness to receive SMS based mHealth intervention for ANC service and its associated factors among pregnant women attending ANC at health centers in Gondar Town administration, 2017. Method: An institution based cross sectional quantitative study was conducted among 416 pregnant women attending ANC from March 27-April 28,2017. Data were collected using structured interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data entry and analysis were done using Epi-Info version 7 and SPSS version 20 respectively. Descriptive statistics was done. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was done. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to identify the factors associated with the willingness to receive SMS based mHealth intervention. Results: A total of 416(98.6% response rate) responded to complete all the questionnaires. About 76.7% (319/416) of respondents owned a mobile phone, and 71.2% (296/416)were willing to receive SMS. Factors associated with willingness were: Youth age group (AOR = 2.869, 95 % CI: [1.451-5.651],having secondary or higher education (AOR = 4.995, 95 % CI: [1.489-14.773], put mobile phone in a place where other scan access and use(AOR = 0.514, 95 % CI: [0.285-0.929]and holding mobile phone sometimes(AOR = 0.319, 95 % CI: [0.141-0.718]).Conclusion: A high proportion of respondents have mobile phone and are willing to receive SMS based mhealth intervention. Age, educational status, duration of holding mobile phone and put mobile phone in a place where others could access and use are significantly associated factors to willingness to receive SMS based mHealth intervention