The willingness to use mobile health technology among gynaecologists: A survey study

The willingness and attitudes of speech-language pathologists towards the use of mobile health technology: a survey study

BACKGROUND

Mobile health (mHealth) technology could be used in different ways to treat various speech and language disorders. The attitude of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) towards this technology and their willingness to use it can play a significant role in the success of the therapies they provide. This study was conducted to investigate the willingness and attitude of SLPs towards the use of mHealth technology.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2021 to April 2022 in Iran. A researcher-made questionnaire consisting of three parts (information related to demographic variables, attitude and willingness) was designed based on the past studies, and then given to all SLPs throughout Iran. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, using descriptive and inferential statistics (frequency, mean, Fisher's exact test, and analysis of variance). Also, the SLPs' willingness to use the desired technology was interpreted as a percentage as follows: 0-20% = not at all willing, 21-40% = slightly willing, 41-60% = moderately willing, 61-80% = highly willing, and above 80% = extremely willing.

RESULTS

One hundred sixty speech-language pathologists from all over Iran participated in this study. The results showed that the willingness of 65.25% of SLPs to use the mentioned technology was at a good level, and according to the mentioned category, they had a high willingness to use this technology. In regard to the attitude of SLPs, the findings showed that SLPs believed that patients receive a higher quality of care during in-person visits than through mHealth technology. Also, this survey showed that SLPs were more inclined to use this technology to answer patients' questions. Non-payment of services provided through mHealth technology and privacy concerns were the reasons for the lack of use of this technology by SLPs.

CONCLUSIONS

SLPs are willing to use mHealth technology after solving the related challenges, including payment of costs and privacy concerns. However, SLPs believed that this technology will not be a suitable alternative to face-to-face sessions.

The role of mobile health in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and self-care of COVID-19 from the healthcare professionals' perspectives

Background

To facilitate disease management, understanding the attitude of healthcare professionals regarding the use of this tool can help mobile health (mHealth) program developers develop appropriate interventions.

Aims

To assess the perspective of healthcare professionals regarding the contribution of mobile-based interventions in the prevention, diagnosis, self-care, and treatment (PDST) of COVID-19.

Methods

This is a survey study conducted in 2020 in Iran with 81 questions. In this study mHealth functionalities were categorized into four dimensions including innovative, monitoring and screening, remote services, and education and decision-making. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the attitudes of the different job groups.

Results

In total, 123 providers participated, and 87.4% of them reported that mHealth technology is moderate to most helpful for the management of COVID-19. Healthcare professionals believed that mHealth technology could be most helpful in self-care and least helpful in the diagnosis of COVID-19. Regarding the functionalities of the mobile application, the results showed that the use of patient decision aids can be most helpful in self-care and the use of computer games can be least helpful in treatment. The participants believed that mHealth is more effective in monitoring and screening dimensions and less effective in providing remote services.

Conclusions

This study showed that healthcare professionals believed that mHealth technology could have a better contribution to self-care for patients with COVID-19. Therefore, it is better to plan and invest more in the field of self-care to help patients to combat COVID-19. The results of this study revealed which mhealth functionalities work better in four domains of prevention, treatment, self-care, and diagnosis of COVID-19. This can help healthcare authorities to implement appropriate IT-based interventions to combat COVID-19.

The willingness to use mobile health and its influencing factors among elderly patients with chronic heart failure in Shanghai, China

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to explore the willingness of elderly patients with chronic heart failure to use mobile health for health management in Shanghai and analyze influencing factors.

METHODS

The study was conducted from August 2020 to July 2021. A convenience sample of 181 elderly patients with chronic heart failure recruited from three tertiary hospitals and one health service center in Shanghai completed self-developed structured questionnaires. The data collected included demographic information, health status, knowing about mobile health, usage of mobile health, willingness to use mobile health for health management, and beliefs about mobile health. SPSS20.0 software was used for analyzing data.

RESULTS

Eighty-four patients (46.4%) expressed their willingness to use mobile health. Logistic regression analyses showed that knowing about mobile health (OR = 16.30, p < 0.001), usage of mobile health (OR = 15.36, p < 0.001), self-rated health (good vs. poor: OR = 15.03, p = 0.003; neutral vs. poor: OR = 3.00, p = 0.006), perceived ease of use (OR = 3.86, p = 0.002), perceived usefulness (OR = 1.90, p < 0.001), and self-efficacy (OR = 1.43, p < 0.001) were important factors influencing the willingness to use mobile health.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a need for developing user-friendly and useful mobile health for elderly patients with chronic heart failure. The participatory approach could be used to develop mobile health intervention. In addition, mobile health should be promoted, publicized, and trained among this group of population.