Senegal

Successful mLearning Pilot in Senegal: Delivering Family Planning Refresher Training Using Interactive Voice Response and SMS

cmahoney — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 16:35:10 +0000

Author's name:

Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Kate E Gilroy, Carie Muntifering Cox, Luke Duncan, Djimadoum Koumtingue, Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Alfredo Fort, Dykki Settle, Rebecca Bailey

June 2015 (All day)

Global Health: Science and Practice

This article in the June 2015 issue of Global Health: Science and Practice highlights the results of an assessment CapacityPlus conducted in Senegal of a prototype mLearning system that uses interactive voice response (IVR) and text messaging on basic mobile phones. IVR allows trainees to respond to audio recordings using their telephone keypads. The pilot included offering a refresher training course on the management of contraceptive side effects and misconceptions to 20 public-sector nurses and midwives in working in Mékhé and Tivaouane districts in the Thiès region. The authors concluded that the mLearning system proved appropriate, feasible, and acceptable to trainees, and it was associated with sustained knowledge gains.

mHealth Compendium Volume Four

Carol Bales — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 16:54:39 +0000

Author's name:

African Strategies for Health

October 2014 (All day)

mHealth Compendium Volume Four

The fourth edition of the mHealth compendium is a collection of 31 case studies, including one focused on application of CapacityPlus’s interactive voice response (IVR) mLearning platform to deliver refresher training to family planning providers in Senegal (page 68). The compendium also highlights the nine Principles for Digital Development, provides evidence for mHealth interventions, and identifies valuable databases, training materials, guidelines, and toolkits for mHealth project implementers.

Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal: Findings from Pilot Implementation and Assessment

Sarah Dwyer — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:22:08 +0000

Author's name:

Kate E. Gilroy, Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Carie Muntifering Cox, Luke Duncan, Djim Koumtingue, Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Alfredo Fort, Dykki Settle, and Rebecca Bailey

March 2015 (All day)

Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal

In-service training reinforces and updates health workers’ knowledge, but it is often expensive and requires providers to leave their posts. Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology—possible with any type of phone—that delivers information via audio recordings and allows users to provide feedback by pressing a number key. CapacityPlus developed, deployed, and assessed an innovative mLearning system that used a combination of IVR and SMS text messaging to deliver refresher training to family planning providers in Senegal, focusing on management of contraceptive side effects and counseling to dispel misconceptions. The pilot application among 20 midwives, nurses, nursing assistants, and health agents took place in two districts in Thiès Region of Senegal. Evaluation findings showed that an mLearning system that delivers refresher training to family planning providers via simple mobile phones using IVR and SMS text is appropriate, feasible, acceptable, and associated with sustained gains in knowledge.