| dc.description.abstract | Patient follow-up in research settings is important for overall wellbeing of the particular patient. The mainstratcgies of managing clientele follow-up appointments are based on home visitations and phone calls, but cases of missed appointments are still high. In this project, SMS based Health Appointment Management Application (SMSBHAMA) for clientele follow-up was developed to take advantage of mobile messaging technology to supplement strategies of managing clientele follow-up appointments such a_s home visitations and phone callswith ultimate aim of improving appointment adherence. Waterfall methodologywas used in project development in Linux operating system thatutilized RapidSMS framework. The RapidSMS framework was configured to work with Kannel SMS gateway, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) modem and Celery scheduler. Coding was done using python programming language. Hypertext Markup Language (I-ITM L), JavaScript Query (J'Query) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)were used to create customized user friendly web user interfaces. My Structured Query Language (MySQL) database was used as the backend and user friendly reports were generated by the system. The entire project was developed using Model Template View (MTV) architectural design pattern. The research part of this project wascross-sectional where NuvaRingparticipants, who were due for scheduled appointments between 1 o" and 24th February 2015 and had received appointment reminders from SMSBHAMA, were used to test the application and their response on suitability and acceptability of automated text messages was evaluated using a questionnaire. Data analysis was done using Stata statistical software.94% of clients (mean rating of l. 9 I) felt that SMS texts were suitable for informing them of their engagements with the study while 88% (mean rating of 3.93) felt that SMS texts were acceptable appointment follow up strategy. This study found out thatautomated SMS texts can be used to supplement other strategies of managing clientele follow-up appointments and theSMSapplicationissuitable andacceptable for informing clients of their engagements with the study.In terms of policy, SMSBHAMA can be used along side other methods of managing appointment follow-up to improve appointment adherence in healthcare. | en_US |