Monitoring the progress of telemedicine use in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries has received a considerable attention from many health organizations and governmental agencies. This study reviewed the current progress and challenges in relation to the development of telemedicine programs in SSA. The results from reviewing 66 empirical studies revealed an unbalanced progress across SSA countries. Further, technological, organisational, legal and regulatory, individual, financial, and cultural aspects were identified as the major barriers to the success of telemedicine development in SSA. This study reported the current trends in telemedicine application, as well as highlighting critical barriers for consideration by healthcare decision makers. The outcomes from this study offer a number of recommendations to support wider implementation and sustainable usage of telemedicine in SSA.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has changed the way we use and perceive online services. This study examined the influence of service quality factors during COVID-19 on individuals' intention to continue use mHealth services. A decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach was used to identify and analyse the relationships between service quality and individuals' intention to continue use mHealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals' direct, indirect, and interdependent behaviours in relation to service quality and continues use of mHealth were studied. A total of 126 respondents were involved in this study. The results identified several associations between service quality factors and individuals' continuous use of mHealth. The most important factor found to influence users’ decision to continuously use mHealth was assurance, followed by hedonic benefits, efficiency, reliability, and content quality. The relevant cause-and-effect relationships were identified and the direction for quality improvement was discussed. The outcomes from this study can support healthcare policy makers to swiftly and widely respond to COVID-19 challenges. The findings provide fundamental insights for healthcare organisations to promote continuous use of mHealth among people by prioritising service improvements.
Recent advances in e‐commerce have resulted in significant progress being made toward strategies, requirements, and the development of various mechanisms aimed at influencing consumers' decisions to purchase online. The relationship between different packaging design elements and their effect on consumers' online buying decisions has been less researched, due in part to the lack of statistical power to detect cause and effect relationships between these elements. This study examines the feasibility of multiple‐criteria decision‐making in order to identify and analyze the causal relationships between the different packaging design elements that are required to stimulate consumers' decision to buy products online. Consumers' direct, indirect, and interdependent behaviors in relation to PDEs and purchase decisions were studied for this paper. A total of 142 students (89 males and 53 females, aged 22‐37 years) participated in this study. The results identified several associations between design elements. The four most important PDEs found to influence consumers' decision to buy via the internet were graphics, colours, label information, and country of origin. This study provides the necessary insights into the design of product packaging by targeting aspects related to the appearance of the products' characteristics. Correlations between the various PDEs obtained from this study can be used to increase consumers' interactions with products in e‐commerce environments.
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