Global increase in mobile phone usage provides an opportunity in transforming health care delivery for improving the management of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).1 Before planning mHealth interventions, it is useful to know the capacity and willingness of the target population.2 Therefore we aimed to assess mobile phone availability and knowledge regarding operation of mobile phones and assess willingness to receive health-related information.We conducted a facility based cross-sectional study among patients attending NCD clinic in the month of November 2014 in a rural primary health center, Puducherry, India. After obtaining informed consent, a pretested semistructured questionnaire was administered to all consecutive patients attending NCD clinic. Access to mobile phone, knowledge on mobile usage and willingness to receive health information were expressed as percentages. We calculated adjusted relative risks (prevalence ratios) to assess sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with willingness to receive health information.Of total 285 participants, 171 (60%) were females and mean (SD) age was 56 (12.5) years. Majority (52.6%) of participants had no formal education, and 189 (66.3%) participants were unemployed. In all, 35 (12.3%) patients had diabetes alone, 147 (51.6%) patients had hypertension alone, and 64 (22.5%) had both diabetes and hypertension.Access to mobile phone and knowledge about its use are described in Table. Personal mobile phone was with 108 (38%) patients and 124 (43.5%) had mobile phone with their family members. Willingness to receive health information was reported by 171 (60%) patients (Table 1), 52.6% preferring voice calls. In bivariate regression analysis, lower age group, male gender, having formal education, employment, and access to mobile phone were associated with willingness. In multivariate analysis, having a personal mobile phone (RR = 5.9 [2.9-12.0]) and mobile with family member (RR = 4.1 [2.0-8.3]) were independently associated with willingness (data not shown).Among 171 study participants who were willing to receive health-related information, 90 (52.6%) preferred voice calls, 72 (42%) preferred SMS, and 9 (5%) preferred either of them. Of them, 160 (93.6%) preferred to receive health tip in local language. Diet (38.6%), medication usage (21.6%), and lifestyle modification (25.2%) were the 3 most common bits of information that participants were willing to receive. This is the first study from India assessing knowledge and willingness related to mHealth interventions among patients with noncommunicable diseases. The study has a few implications. This comprehensive assessment on receiver level capacity and preparedness will help in effective planning of mHealth interventions for chronic disease patients. Voice calls being the preferred mode for receiving health information, mHealth interventions using voice calls tailored to the specific needs of elderly and the less educated in rural setting can be tried under primary care settings. These interventions ...
Background:For many of the end-stage organ diseases, organ transplantation is the most preferred treatment. The need for the organ transplantation is higher than the availability. For the transplantation program to be successful, awareness regarding organ donation is needed and people must have a positive attitude toward donating organs.Aim:This study aims to assess the awareness and attitudes regarding organ donation among the rural population and to evaluate the sociodemographic factors associated with their awareness.Subjects and Methods:This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 360 people living in 4 villages of Puducherry. Face-to-face interviews were carried out using pretested questionnaire, which included the sociodemographic data. Data were entered into Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.Results:Of 360 participants, 88% (317/360) were aware of organ donation. Among these 317 participants, awareness was highest in the age group 18–30 years 98.8% (87/88), male 91% (147/161), higher secondary and above 100% (58/58), and Class 1 socioeconomic status 92% (13/14). Source of awareness about organ donation was primarily through media 83% (263/317). The majority of the participants 88% (281/317) felt that the purpose of organ donation was to save life. Most of the participants 91% (290/317) said that all healthy adults are eligible organ donors and 87% (275/317) of the participants said that monetary benefits could not be accepted for organ donation. Most of the participants 70% (223/317) were willing to donate their organs after death. Among the participants who refused to donate their organs, family refusal 57% (25/44) was the most common reason.Conclusion:This study shows that there is a high level of awareness about organ donation among rural people and most of the participants are willing to donate their organs.
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