PONE-D-22-02833How do media access and mobile phone use affect maternal healthcare service use in Bangladesh? Moderated mediation effects of socioeconomic factorsPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Kabir,

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: I am happy reading the paper which is sound interesting and important in the context of Bangladesh using the latest round demographic dataset.

I am really satisfied reading the paper as this format. The analysis is robust and the findings are interesting although several studies already done on this.

I have few suggestions for the author, please clarify the rationality in the background section and the conclusion section is more general, please re-edit the conclusion section supporting the findings.

Weighted prevalence of the three outcomes variables are suggested.

Some grammatical errors I have found along with some blend of British and US spelling found, suggested to make it corrections carefully.

Reviewer #2: It appears that the major limitation to the study was the secondary dataset obtained from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey which the authors claim did not capture certain information such as the level of internet use and access by the study participants.

In an attempt to demonstrate the channel complementarity theory, the authors set out to describe the relationship between two channels; media access to health information and mobile technology use for interpersonal healthcare communication among pregnant mothers and utilization of maternal healthcare services. The paper aptly examines the secondary influence of social determinants of healthcare on these channels and consequently maternal health service utilization outcome.

However, the paper has many weaknesses that need to be addressed before it is accepted for publication:

1. Limitations in dataset analysed: It appears that the major limitation to the study was the secondary dataset obtained from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey which the authors claim did not capture certain information such as the level of internet use and access by the study participants. This has completely eliminated the intractable influence of social media on access to health information in a ‘computer age’. Also, in Page 12, paragraph 2, line 9 and 10, though the authors agree that using more channels of health information might increase utilization of maternal health services, it fails to demonstrate the effect of social media usage on the knowledge, attitude and practices of the study subjects.

Action: It is therefore recommended that since the data source did not capture the datasets that appropriately describe contemporary media channels such as social media and internet usage, the authors may wish to review the title of the paper to reflect the source of data.

2. Definition of key terms: While the authors defined ‘have some access’ as ‘Watched TV/listened to radio/read newspapers at least once a week’, it is completely silent on the definition of ‘limited access’. It graded the level of access to media use (some access and limited access) with accompanying degree of maternal health service utilization but failed to do same for mobile phone use assuming that ‘any kind of exposure’ to mobile technology use will positively affect maternal health service utilization outcome.

Action: The authors should clearly define ‘limited access’ so as to avoid ambiguity to the target audience.

3. Oversimplification of findings: The authors’ address a critical topic in demand creation within a complex system of factors affecting uptake of comprehensive maternal care services amongst pregnant mothers. For instance, the influence of counter moderating factors such as increased distance to health facilities on the use of ANC services were completely ignored. Also, In Page 27, paragraph 2, line 8, the authors ignored the influence of cultural beliefs, practices, and norms on the lack of women’s autonomy in making healthcare decisions for themselves in the developing world by propounding that having a cell phone to make enquiry about nearby health services is a solution.

Therefore, this paper does not sufficiently describe the balance of complex demand and supply forces for achieving desirable maternal health services outcomes. Action: Providing this information will furrther strengthen the paper

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PLOS ONE_dr ekong review_260222.docx

How do traditional media access and mobile phone use affect maternal healthcare service use in Bangladesh? Moderated mediation effects of socioeconomic factors

PONE-D-22-02833R1

Dear Dr. Kabir,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has now been judged scientifically suitable for publication in PLOS ONE and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Bassey E. Ebenso, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.D.,

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: I am satisfied reading the paper it is now more obvious than previous version. Although, I couldn’t find the prevalence rate.

However, happy working best of luck.

Reviewer #2: The authors have satisfactorily addressed all the issues raised. The manuscript is now acceptable for publication

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No