One Size Does Not Fit All: The Importance of Contextually Sensitive mHealth Strategies for Frontline Female Health Workers

Tariq, Amina; Durrani, Sameera

doi:10.1007/978-94-024-1251-2_2

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…This trend is not surprising, considering the tech savviness of young adults and the easy accessibility to the internet. However, these web-based health interventions or programs cannot be executed as technical programs in a vacuum, ignoring the complex contexts in which they are implemented [5]. Therefore, in digital health literacy, it is important that consumer-focused electronic resources are designed such that they are aligned with the literacy levels of the intended audience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internet Use, eHealth Literacy, and Dietary Supplement Use Among Young Adults in Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study

2020

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Background Increased access to the internet has facilitated widespread availability of health information. Thus, electronic health (eHealth) literacy—the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic resources and apply that knowledge in making a health-related decision—is a crucial skill. Despite the increasing use of the internet as a source of health information in developing countries, only a few studies have examined the eHealth literacy of young adults, who frequently use the internet to access health information in these developing countries. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the patterns of internet use and eHealth literacy levels among university students pursuing a non–health-related degree in Pakistan. We also examined the association of the eHealth literacy levels of these young adults with their physical activity levels and dietary supplement intake. Methods Students from 2 leading engineering universities in Pakistan were invited to participate in a cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey in order to collect data on their internet use, eHealth literacy, and dietary supplement intake. Of the 900 eligible university students who were invited to participate, 505 (56.1%) students who completed the questionnaire were included in the analysis. The findings were converted to median values and frequency analyses were performed. The associations between the variables were determined using the chi-square test; P≤.05 was considered significant. Results In this study, the median eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS) score was 29, which did not vary across gender. The most common type of health-related information that was searched by the participants was that related to maintaining a healthy lifestyle (305/505, 60.4%). Participants with high eHEALS scores were those who used the internet frequently for finding people with similar health issues (P<.001). The use of specific social media platforms was not associated with the perceived eHealth literacy levels. Neither the frequency of physical activity nor the dietary supplement use was associated with the eHealth literacy of the participants. Conclusions University students in non–health-related disciplines in Pakistan expressed high confidence in their skills to find health-related information on the internet, as indicated by the aggregate eHEALS scores. However, the findings of our study show that the perceived eHealth literacy was not associated with health behaviors such as physical activity and dietary supplement intake. Further research is necessary to investigate the extent to which eHealth literacy can be considered as a panacea for solving public health challenges in developing countries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internet Use, eHealth Literacy, and Dietary Supplement Use Among Young Adults in Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study

2020

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“…There are 15,000 users of this app, of which 2,500 are routine active users (Gowthaman, 2020). On the other hand, the mHealth is a potential domain in the health care discipline that uses micro and macro communication strategies, removing the social and financial barriers (Tariq & Durrani, 2018).…”

Section: Mobile Apps and Telemedicine Facilities For Prenatal Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Prenatal care, new media, and COVID-19 pandemic in India

Kanozia¹,

Vp²

2021

Media Asia

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“…However, despite the availability of pregnancy-related mHealth applications, there is a lack of evidence on how these applications integrate into the daily lives of pregnant women and if they influence behaviour change on BPCR amongst pregnant women and their caregivers (14). It is important to note that technology is not neutral, but context-specificit must be adapted to the needs of people it is designed for (15) to reconfigure that context in ways that it was designed for and some which are unanticipated (16). Therefore, this paper aims to understand how the RoadMApp smart travel mHealth tool fits into the existing strategies and perspectives for mobilizing transport for pregnancy-related care in a low resource setting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RoadMApp: A feasibility study for a smart travel application to improve maternal health delivery in a low resource setting in Zimbabwe

Nyati-Jokomo

Dabengwa

Makacha

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Travel time and health care financing are key determinants to the provision of quality maternal health care in low resource settings. Despite the availability of pregnancy-related mHealth and smart travel applications, there is a lack of evidence on their usage to travel to health facilities for routine antenatal care and emergencies in low resource settings like Zimbabwe. Little is known about the feasibility of the usage of custom-made mobile technologies that integrate smart travel and mHealth. This paper explores the feasibility of implementing a custom-made geographically enabled mobile technology-based tool (RoadMApp) to counter the negative effects of long travel times and poor financing strategies for maternal care in Kwekwe District, Zimbabwe. Methods: Focus group discussions were conducted with pregnant women, women of childbearing age, men (household heads) and elderly women. Participatory learning approaches with stakeholders (community members) and in-depth interviews with key informants (health care service providers, transport operators) were utilised. In total 193 people took part in the study. The discussion questions centred on travel time, availability of transport, cellular network coverage and perceptions of the RoadMApp application. Data was analysed thematically using Nvivo Pro 12.Results: Most parts of rural Kwekwe have long distances to health facilities and an inefficient road and telecommunications network. Hence, it is hard to predict if RoadMApp will integrate into the lives of the community - especially those in rural areas. Since these issues are pillars of the design of the RoadMApp application, the implementation is likely to be challenging.Conclusion: Communities are keen to embrace the RoadMApp application. However, the feasibility of implementing RoadMApp in Kwekwe District will be challenging due to maternal health care barriers such as poor road network, poor phone network and the high cost of transport. There is, therefore, a need to investigate the social determinants of access to maternity services in order to inform the RoadMApp implementation.

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One Size Does Not Fit All: The Importance of Contextually Sensitive mHealth Strategies for Frontline Female Health Workers

Cited by 8 publications

References 45 publications

Internet Use, eHealth Literacy, and Dietary Supplement Use Among Young Adults in Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study

Internet Use, eHealth Literacy, and Dietary Supplement Use Among Young Adults in Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study

Prenatal care, new media, and COVID-19 pandemic in India

RoadMApp: A feasibility study for a smart travel application to improve maternal health delivery in a low resource setting in Zimbabwe

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