Clinical trial NCT06790069: Evaluating the Impact of a Symptom Checker on Healthcare-seeking Decisions: a Mixed-Methods Study
Official title: Safety and Feasibility of the Integration of Ada Into the Mobile MomConnect Information Service for Pregnant Women and New Mothers in South Africa
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Maternal Health Care
Keywords: maternal health
mobile health tools
symptom checker
Lead sponsor: Ada Health GmbH
Sponsor class: INDUSTRY
Collaborators: name: Reach Digital Health (formerly Praekelt.org)
name: Citizen Surveys
name: Rockefeller Foundation
First posted: 2025-01-23
Enrollment: 968
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: OTHER
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The study population consists of users of MomConnect a program developed by the National Department of Health (NDOH) in South Africa and Reach Digital Health for pregnant women and young mothers.

Brief summary: The goal of this study is to evaluate the integration of a symptom checker (SC) into the MomConnect (MC) platform to support maternal healthcare in South Africa. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does the SC provide safe and appropriate medical advice?
* Does the SC help mothers make informed decisions about when and where to seek healthcare, saving time and money by avoiding unnecessary visits?
* Does the SC improve access to care for those facing significant healthcare barriers?

Participants will answer survey questions before and after using the SC. A subset of participants will also be invited to participate in structured telephone interviews.

The study will help researchers assess the SC's impact on healthcare decisions and resource use in South Africa.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Women registered with MomConnect, who would like to assess their or their child's symptoms
* At least 18 years of age
* Women with access to WhatsApp
* Capable of completing a symptom assessment in English

Exclusion Criteria:

* Incapable of completing a symptom assessment in English via WhatsApp (e.g. due to illiteracy, language barrier, mental impairment or inebriation or other incapacity or lack of access to WhatsApp)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Proportion of appropriate advice by the SC for mother and child
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment.
measure: Proportion of safe advice by the SC for mother and child
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Potential prevention of a health problem in Perinatal Period for Mother or Child
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment.
measure: Potential prevention of a SEVERE health problem in Perinatal Period for Mother or Child
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment.
measure: Potential Occurrence of a health problem (adverse event) in Perinatal Period for Mother and Child
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment.
measure: Potential Occurrence of a SEVERE health problem (severe adverse event) in Perinatal Period for Mother or Child
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment.
measure: Health seeking behaviour before and after using Ada+MomConnect
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of the follow-up survey send out 1 week after enrolment.
measure: Number of participants who consulted an HCP after using Ada+MomConnect
timeFrame: After completion of the follow-up survey send out 1 week after enrolment.
measure: Gaining of health information in a fast and standardised way
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Usability
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Time saved from avoiding unnecessary healthcare consultations
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Time saved and associated estimate of income retained through avoiding unnecessary healthcare consultations
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Healthcare resource utilisation
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Direct Healthcare costs
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
Other outcomes:
measure: Socioeconomic background of users
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Subgroup analysis
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of panel ratings, approximately 2-3 months after participant enrolment
measure: Condition comparison
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Time to receiving advice
timeFrame: On the day of enrolment.
measure: Time to diagnosis
timeFrame: From data collection with participant enrolment to the completion of the follow-up survey send out 1 week after enrolment.
measure: Quantitative and qualitative information collected in the phone survey on demographics, health seeking behaviour and user experience with the symptom checker
timeFrame: Approx. 1-2 weeks after enrolment.
Locations:
city: Cape Town
country: South Africa
facility: Reach Digital Health (formerly Praekelt.org)
Study officials:
References: