Faujdar Dharamjeet S, Kaur Manmeet, Singh Tarundeep, Sahay Sundeep, Kumar Rajesh
Department of Community Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Jan;11(1):90-96. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_809_21. Epub 2022 Jan 31.
mHealth has potential to improve health care delivery but little is known about its effectiveness on health amongst marginalized communities. This study was carried out to determine the scope and usefulness of mHealth implementation in underprivileged slum population.
A cross-sectional study was carried out in an urban slum of Northern India where the government primary health care facility was digitized and mHealth component was integrated into the system to improve the health care service delivery. The survey was conducted using a pre-tested questionnaire among 921 persons who were sent SMSs within the last 2 months prior to survey to assess the reach and acceptability of mHealth in the underprivileged slum populations, and the role it can play to improve the healthcare services provided through primary health care facility.
In the surveyed population majority (59.8%) were young (18-30 years), females (79.3%), Hindu (94%) belonged to Scheduled caste (77.8%) and a significant percentage of them were illiterates (30%). Mobile phones were available with 87% of the surveyed population and more than 50% had smartphones. Though, only 59.5% of individuals confirmed the receipt of SMS, a very high proportion of survey population (98.3%) were willing to receive health-related SMS. About 72% individuals received SMSs and remembered the content of the message. Adherence to health advise sent through SMS was significantly higher among females (OR = 2.4 (95% CI: 1.2,5.1), = 0.01), those who read messages themselves (OR = 1.9 (95% CI: 1.0, 3.3), = 0.03), and who received SMS more than once in a month (OR = 2.2 (95% CI: 1.2, 4.2), = 0.01). Majority of those who received SMS (83%) expressed that the health-related SMS were beneficial to them.
mHealth has high potential to improve reach and increase accessibility of health care services for marginalized communities.
移动健康有潜力改善医疗服务的提供，但对于其在边缘化社区人群健康方面的效果却知之甚少。开展本研究以确定在贫困贫民窟人群中实施移动健康的范围和效用。
在印度北部的一个城市贫民窟开展了一项横断面研究，当地政府的初级卫生保健设施已实现数字化，并将移动健康组件整合到系统中以改善医疗服务的提供。在调查前的最后2个月内向921人发送了短信，使用预先测试过的问卷进行调查，以评估移动健康在贫困贫民窟人群中的覆盖范围和可接受性，以及它在改善通过初级卫生保健设施提供的医疗服务方面所能发挥的作用。
在被调查人群中，大多数（59.8%）为年轻人（18 - 30岁），女性（79.3%），印度教徒（94%），属于在册种姓（77.8%），且其中很大比例（30%）为文盲。87%的被调查人群拥有手机，超过50%的人拥有智能手机。尽管只有59.5%的个体确认收到了短信，但极高比例（98.3%）的被调查人群愿意接收与健康相关的短信。约72%的个体收到了短信并记住了短信内容。女性（比值比 = 2.4（95%置信区间：1.2, 5.1），P = 0.01）、自己阅读短信的人（比值比 = 1.9（95%置信区间：1.0, 3.3），P = 0.03）以及每月收到短信不止一次的人（比值比 = 2.2（95%置信区间：1.2, 4.2），P = 0.01）对通过短信发送的健康建议的依从性显著更高。大多数收到短信的人（83%）表示与健康相关的短信对他们有益。
移动健康对于改善边缘化社区医疗服务的覆盖范围和可及性具有很大潜力。
