research-article

Texting and sexual health: experimental evidence from an information intervention in Kenya

Author:

Risa KitagawaAuthors Info & Claims

ICTD '15: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development

May 2015

Article No.: 18, Pages 1 - 10

https://doi.org/10.1145/2737856.2738032

Published: 15 May 2015 Publication History

Abstract

While text-messaging is an efficacious method of disseminating health information in developing contexts, we know less about how users adapt their behavior based on that information. Does it matter how the information is conveyed? This paper presents findings from a randomized field experiment that evaluates the impact of a Short Message Service (SMS) sexual health counseling service on individuals' knowledge and behavior in an urban informal settlement of Nairobi, Kenya. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions which tested different mechanisms through which technology-enabled information provision could work to alter sexual behavior: (1) information gap reduction, (2) personalization and (3) social cues. The evidence suggests that personalizing the information and providing signals about how other people in the community are behaving can dramatically minimize sexual health risk, compared to simply reducing the information gap. Additionally, individuals receiving generic, non-personalized health information were more likely to engage in risky behavior compared to their counterparts.

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Cited By

Karusala NSeeh DMugo CGuthrie BMoreno MJohn-Stewart GInwani IAnderson RRonen KKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)“That courage to encourage”: Participation and Aspirations in Chat-based Peer Support for Youth Living with HIVProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445313(1-17)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445313
Wood MGarbett AMorrissey KHopkins PBalaam MMandryk RHancock MPerry MCox A(2018)"Protection on that Erection?"Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3173574.3174238(1-12)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3174238
Wyche S(2016)Exploring Women's Everyday Mobile Phone Experiences in Nairobi, KenyaInteracting with Computers10.1093/iwc/iww028Online publication date: 13-Oct-2016
https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iww028

Index Terms

Texting and sexual health: experimental evidence from an information intervention in Kenya
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications
  2. Life and medical sciences
    1. Consumer health
    2. Health informatics
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing and business

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cover image ACM Other conferences

ICTD '15: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development

May 2015

429 pages

ISBN:9781450331630

DOI:10.1145/2737856

General Chair:
Arul Chib
Nanyang Technological University
,
Program Chairs:
Matthew Kam
Google
,
Jenna Burrell
University of California, Berkeley

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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IPID: International Network for Postgraduate Students in the area of ICT4D
Internet Society: Internet Society
BRAC: BRAC
Microsoft Research: Microsoft Research
ICANN: Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers
IBM: IBM

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 15 May 2015

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Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies At Stanford University

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ICTD '15

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IPID
Internet Society
BRAC
Microsoft Research
ICANN
IBM

ICTD '15: The Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development

May 15 - 18, 2015

Singapore, Singapore

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ICTD '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 22 of 116 submissions, 19%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 22 of 116 submissions, 19%

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Cited By

Karusala NSeeh DMugo CGuthrie BMoreno MJohn-Stewart GInwani IAnderson RRonen KKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)“That courage to encourage”: Participation and Aspirations in Chat-based Peer Support for Youth Living with HIVProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445313(1-17)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445313
Wood MGarbett AMorrissey KHopkins PBalaam MMandryk RHancock MPerry MCox A(2018)"Protection on that Erection?"Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3173574.3174238(1-12)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3174238
Wyche S(2016)Exploring Women's Everyday Mobile Phone Experiences in Nairobi, KenyaInteracting with Computers10.1093/iwc/iww028Online publication date: 13-Oct-2016
https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iww028

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