Development and evaluation of mHealth on polycystic ovarian syndrome for young women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46947/joaasr322021154Keywords:
PCOS, young women, communication tool, WhatsApp, mHealthAbstract
The prospective benefit of mHealth can be expected to revolutionize health service profile
worldwide. mHealth consist of short message service (SMS), web based interventions, smart phone
applications and telehealth. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is now familiar among women in their
reproductive age as a disorder affecting them irrespective of their age. Young women in India have high
prevalence of PCOS ranging from 9.13 to 36 per cent. PCOS inclines young women at a greater risk of
developing insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome as well as cardiovascular disease. Hundred young
women aged 19-25 years were selected from ten hostels located in Coimbatore city, Tamil Nadu.
Formulation of the interview schedule was done as a tool to assess the information of the locale, their
health status, lifestyle practice and physical activity level. The tools used for dietary assessment included
24 hour dietary recall carried out for three consecutive days and a questionnaire to know their frequency
of consuming different foods. Anthropometric measurement was carried out to compute BMI and waist
hip ratio. A pre-intervention questionnaire to assess the knowledge of young women on PCOS was also
administered. mHealth message was developed on PCOS containing 110-150 characters including
punctuation, bold and italic letters and mHealth messages were sent for a period of 12 days via WhatsApp.
After 12 days, with the help of post-intervention questionnaire a change in knowledge on PCOS was
appraised. mHealth can be used as an effective communication tool to provide information and bring
changes in knowledge, attitude and behavior for other areas which is likely to change the current situation
of delivering health service around the world.