Mhealth hearing screening for children by non-specialist health workers in communities

Dawood, Nausheen; Mahomed-Asmail, Faheema; Louw, C.W.; Swanepoel, De Wet

doi:10.1080/14992027.2020.1829719

Cited by 30 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…The community health workers were satisfied with the increased efficiency and reduced burnout ( 22 , 25 ). Community health workers, who integrated mHealth applications in clinical duties, managed patients just as accurately and in degrees comparable to trained professionals ( 36 , 63 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Owoyemi¹,

Osuchukwu

Azubuike

et al. 2022

Front. Digit. Health

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The agenda for Universal Health Coverage has driven the exploration of various innovative approaches to expanding health services to the general population. As more African countries have adopted digital health tools as part of the strategic approach to expanding health services, there is a need for defining a standard framework for implementation across board. Therefore, there is a need to review and employ an evidence-based approach to inform managing challenges, adopting best approaches, and implement informed recommendations. We reviewed a variety of digital health tools applied to different health conditions in primary care settings and highlighted the challenges faced, approaches that worked and relevant recommendations. These include limited coverage and network connectivity, lack of technological competence, lack of power supply, limited mobile phone usage and application design challenges. Despite these challenges, this review suggests that mHealth solutions could attain effective usage when healthcare workers receive adequate onsite training, deploying applications designed in an intuitive and easy to understand approach in a manner that fits into the users existing workflows, and involvement of the stakeholders at all levels in the design, planning, and implementation stages of the interventions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Owoyemi¹,

Osuchukwu

Azubuike

et al. 2022

Front. Digit. Health

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“…Recent studies demonstrated that minimally trained non-specialist health workers (e.g. CHWs) are able to conduct screening services equivalent to that of professional healthcare workers, when equipped with mHealth technology [ 27 , 28 , 30 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A South African study by Eksteen et al, (2019) recently reported the first hearing and vision screening for preschool children using smartphone-based technologies [ 26 ] . In this study, trained community health workers (CHWs) used validated smartphone-based applications (apps) for hearing screening (hearScreen app; hearX Group, South Africa) [ 21 , 23 , 24 , 26 – 28 , 30 ] and vision screening (Peek Acuity app; peekVision, United Kingdom) [ 15 , 25 ]. In order to overcome loss to follow-up previously shown to affect the outcomes of screening programmes [ 8 , 23 , 24 , 31 ], the study included a community-based first-line follow-up assessment for those who failed screening by also utilizing validated mHealth technology [ 26 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and characteristics of hearing and vision loss in preschool children from low income South African communities: results of a screening program of 10,390 children

et al. 2022

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Background The majority of children with sensory impairments live in low- and middle-income countries. More studies of hearing and vision impairment prevalence are needed, in order to generate more accurate estimates of trends in sensory impairments. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and describe the characteristics of hearing and vision loss among preschool children (4–7 years) in an underserved South African community following community-based mobile health (mHealth) supported hearing and vision services. Methods A screening program of sensory impairments was undertaken of children attending preschools in the communities of Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town, from September 2017 until June 2019. Hearing and vision screening were done by trained community health workers using mHealth technology. Children who failed hearing and vision screening were seen for follow-up assessments at their preschools. Follow-up assessments were conducted using smartphones that host point-of-care validated and calibrated hearing and vision testing applications (hearTest app, hearX Group, South Africa and PeekAcuity app, Peek Vision, United Kingdom). Descriptive statistical analysis and logistic regression analysis were conducted after extracting data from a secure cloud-based server (mHealth Studio, hearX Group) to Microsoft Excel (2016). Results A total of 10,390 children were screened at 298 preschools over 22 months. Of the children screened, 5.6 and 4.4% of children failed hearing and vision screening respectively. Community-based follow-up hearing tests were done at the preschools on 88.5% (514) of children of whom 240 children (54.2% female) presented with hearing loss. A preschool-based follow-up vision test was done on 400 children (88.1%). A total of 232 children (46.1% female) had a vision impairment, and a further 32 children passed the test but had obvious signs of ocular morbidity. Logistic regression analysis found that age was a significant predictor of vision loss (p < 0.05), but not for hearing loss (p = 0.06). Gender was not a significant predictor of hearing (p = 0.22) or vision loss (p = 0.20). Conclusions Hearing loss is prevalent in at least 22 per 1000 and vision loss in at least 23 per 1000 preschool children in an underserved South African community. Timely identification of sensory losses can be facilitated through community-based hearing and vision services supported by mHealth technology.

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“…Alternative ways to decentralize hearing assessment into rural areas could also reduce costs and improve widespread uptake. Digital technologies have increasingly demonstrated the potential to increase hearing health access via remote self-or community-health-worker-facilitated testing [5,[16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Technology for Remote Hearing Assessment—Current Status and Future Directions for Consumers

et al. 2021

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Globally, more than 1.5 billion people have hearing loss. Unfortunately, most people with hearing loss reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where traditional face-to-face services rendered by trained health professionals are few and unequally dispersed. The COVID-19 pandemic has further hampered the effectiveness of traditional service delivery models to provide hearing care. Digital health technologies are strong enablers of hearing care and can support health delivery models that are more sustainable. The convergence of advancing technology and mobile connectivity is enabling new ways of providing decentralized hearing services. Recently, an abundance of digital applications that offer hearing tests directly to the public has become available. A growing body of evidence has shown the ability of several approaches to provide accurate, accessible, and remote hearing assessment to consumers. Further effort is needed to promote greater accuracy across a variety of test platforms, improve sensitivity to ear disease, and scale up hearing rehabilitation, especially in LMICs.

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Mhealth hearing screening for children by non-specialist health workers in communities

Cited by 30 publications

References 42 publications

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Prevalence and characteristics of hearing and vision loss in preschool children from low income South African communities: results of a screening program of 10,390 children

Digital Technology for Remote Hearing Assessment—Current Status and Future Directions for Consumers

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