Efficacy of a Smartphone Application to Promote Maternal Influenza Vaccination: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

The maternal vaccine coverage rate has been low in Taiwan. We developed an “Influenza Vaccination Reminder Application” and evaluated its efficacy in improving vaccination intention among pregnant women in Taiwan. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the positive change in vaccination intention between the experimental group and the control group. Pregnant women who were more than 20 years old and at less than 32 weeks of gestation were recruited from four regional hospitals in southern Taiwan during November 2020 to April 2021. Pregnant women were randomly assigned to the experimental group, to whom the “Influenza Vaccination Reminder Application” was provided for at least two months, while pregnant women in the control group received regular maternal education only. The differences in knowledge about influenza and its vaccines, attitudes towards maternal influenza vaccination, and behavior intention of influenza vaccination among pregnant women before and after the experiment intervention were compared between two groups. The results included 126 women in the experimental group and 117 women in the control group and showed that the “Influenza Vaccination Reminder Application” increased pregnant women’s knowledge about influenza and vaccines (percentage increase in the experimental group and control group: 11.64% vs. 7.39%), strengthened their positive attitudes towards maternal influenza vaccination (percentage increase: 5.39% vs. 1.44%), and promoted positive behavioral intention toward influenza vaccination (proportion of participants with positive change in vaccination intention: 17.46% vs. 7.69%). The study supports use of “Influenza Vaccination Reminder Application” to promote the behavior intention of influenza vaccination among pregnant women in Taiwan.