ACCEPTANCE OF m-HEALTH AND ITS COMPLEXITY FOR THE PROVISION OF QUALITY HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the factors affecting the adoption of mobile health, assess the perception of the role of mobile health in health care service, and compare the technology acceptability and complexity trend among Community Health Workers. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was done using a two-stage sampling technique to collect the required sample from 308 Community Health Workers (CHWs) comprising 258 Lady health workers (LHW), 21 Community midwives (CMWs), 18 Lady health visitors (LHVs) and 11 Family welfare workers /councilors (FWWs/FWCs) of district Peshawar. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: The majority of CHWs agree that mobile phones are useful in communication with fellow health professionals, diagnostic and treatment support, and medical data collection. The majority of CHWs were, willing to adopt mHealth technology. CHWs believed that mHealth adoption could make their job easier and improve access to healthcare services. mHealth can also enhance disease prevention and awareness. Affordability, result orientation, and easy usage are the significant factors in the adoption of mHealth. Conclusion: mHealth usefulness and acceptance role for awareness, and disease prevention are the most agreed factors in the view of community health workers. Highest PCA score recordings for “m-health make it more accessible, affordable for the general population". Key Words: Community Health Workers, Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), mHealth.