Implementation and evaluation of a family planning mobile phone job aid for community health workers in Tanzania

The developing world is experiencing an explosive growth in the use of mobile phones. Increasingly, these technologies are being developed to provide point-of-care support by community health workers (CHWs). In June 2011, FHI360, Pathfinder, and D-Tree International began developing a mobile phone family planning decision support tool for CHWs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in order to improve the quality of and access to family planning information and services in the field. CHWs currently use paper-based tools, which can present challenges including portability, usability, inaccurate and inefficient data management and reporting, and lack of access to updated health information; they are simply not sufficient to ensure high-quality services. The new mobile tool aims to foster use of evidence-based practices during family planning service provision to increase uptake and continuation of family planning methods. The tool is also designed to enable real-time data collection through structured question and response fields for more real-time reporting and use of information for management purposes. The overall objective of the project is to develop and assess the feasibility and acceptability of using an evidence-based mobile phone counseling job aid for family planning service delivery by CHWs, and to improve data collection and reporting efficiency on contraceptive usage. Evaluation components include structured surveys with clients, in-depth interviews with CHWs and their supervisors, data abstraction from client records, field reports and cost-effectiveness analysis. The presentation will include a discussion of the design, implementation and training efforts for the mobile job aid, as well as preliminary evaluation findings.