Osei Ernest, Agyei Kwasi, Tlou Boikhutso, Mashamba-Thompson Tivani P
Discipline of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa.
School of Business, Spiritan University College, Kumasi, Ghana.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Jul 9;11(7):1233. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11071233.
Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have been identified as promising strategies for improving access to healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. However, the extent of availability and use of mHealth among healthcare professionals in Ghana is not known. The study's main objective was to examine the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support by healthcare professionals in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 285 healthcare professionals across 100 primary healthcare clinics in the Ashanti Region with an adopted survey tool. We obtained data on the participants' background, available health infrastructure, healthcare workforce competency, ownership of a mobile wireless device, usefulness of mHealth, ease of use of mHealth, user satisfaction, and behavioural intention to use mHealth. Descriptive statistics were conducted to characterise healthcare professionals' demographics and clinical features. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the influence of the demographic factors on the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support. STATA version 15 was used to complete all the statistical analyses. Out of the 285 healthcare professionals, 64.91% indicated that mHealth is available to them, while 35.08% have no access to mHealth. Of the 185 healthcare professionals who have access to mHealth, 98.4% are currently using mHealth to support healthcare delivery. Logistic regression model analysis significantly ( < 0.05) identified that factors such as the availability of mobile wireless devices, phone calls, text messages, and mobile apps are associated with HIV, TB, medication adherence, clinic appointments, and others. There is a significant association between the availability of mobile wireless devices, text messages, phone calls, mobile apps, and their use for disease diagnosis and treatment compliance from the chi-square test analysis. The findings demonstrate a low level of mHealth use for disease diagnosis and treatment support by healthcare professionals at rural clinics. We encourage policymakers to promote the implementation of mHealth in rural clinics.
移动健康（mHealth）技术已被视为改善医疗服务可及性和患者治疗效果的有前景的策略。然而，加纳医疗专业人员中mHealth的可获得性和使用程度尚不清楚。该研究的主要目的是调查加纳阿散蒂地区医疗专业人员在疾病诊断和治疗支持方面对mHealth的可获得性和使用情况。采用一种调查工具，对阿散蒂地区100家基层医疗诊所的285名医疗专业人员进行了横断面调查。我们获取了有关参与者背景、可用的医疗基础设施、医疗人员能力、移动无线设备的拥有情况、mHealth的有用性、mHealth的易用性、用户满意度以及使用mHealth的行为意向的数据。进行描述性统计以描述医疗专业人员的人口统计学和临床特征。进行多变量逻辑回归分析以探讨人口统计学因素对mHealth在疾病诊断和治疗支持方面的可获得性和使用的影响。使用STATA 15版本完成所有统计分析。在285名医疗专业人员中，64.91%表示他们可以使用mHealth，而35.08%无法使用mHealth。在185名可以使用mHealth的医疗专业人员中，98.4%目前正在使用mHealth来支持医疗服务。逻辑回归模型分析显著（<0.05）确定，诸如移动无线设备的可用性、电话、短信和移动应用程序等因素与艾滋病毒、结核病、药物依从性、门诊预约等有关。从卡方检验分析来看，移动无线设备、短信电话移动应用程序的可用性与它们在疾病诊断和治疗依从性方面的使用之间存在显著关联。研究结果表明，农村诊所的医疗专业人员在疾病诊断和治疗支持方面对mHealth的使用水平较低。我们鼓励政策制定者推动在农村诊所实施mHealth。
