Research on the Impact of mHealth Apps on the Primary Healthcare Professionals in Patient Care

Al-Azzam, Majed Kamel Ali

doi:10.1155/2021/7611686

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Using mHealth was significantly associated with sub-optimal performance in the refugee settlement. This finding differed from previous studies that showed strong correlations between mHealth use and improved CHW performance by simplifying and reducing the workload [27,31,35,36]. These equivocal findings could be due to the refugee settlement operational settings and methodological discrepancies during analysis.…”

Section: Plos Global Public Healthcontrasting

confidence: 94%

“…mHealth is the use of mobile wireless technologies for public health surveillance and promotion [28]. Generally, studies on the adoption and advancements in mHealth show a positive correlation with improved healthcare practice and service delivery [29][30][31]. Similar correlations have been noted between mHealth and the performance of CHWs in low and middleincome countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

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Does mHealth influence community health worker performance in vulnerable populations? A mixed methods study in a multinational refugee settlement in Uganda

Wagaba,

Musoke,

Bagonza

et al. 2023

PLOS Glob Public Health

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Community Health Workers (CHWs) provide healthcare in under-served communities, including refugee settlements, despite various challenges hindering their performance. Implementers have adopted mobile wireless technologies (m-Health) to improve the performance of CHWs in refugee settlements. We assessed the CHWs’ performance and associated factors in a multi-national refugee settlement, operating mHealth and paper-based methods. This cross-sectional study employed quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Data for 300 CHWs was collected from implementing partners’ (IPs) databases. Nine focus group discussions (FGDs) with the CHWs and community members, two in-depth interviews (IDIs) with CHW leaders, and eight key informant interviews (KIIs) with six IPs and two local leaders were conducted. The qualitative data were analysed thematically using AtlasTi version 9 while the quantitative data were analysed at the univariate, bivariate and multivariable levels using Stata version14. The study found that only 17% of the CHWs performed optimally. The factors that significantly influenced CHW performance included education level: secondary and above (APR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.02–3.30), having a side occupation (APR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.16–3.52) and mHealth use (APR: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.02-.0.30). The qualitative data suggested that performance was influenced by the number of households assigned to CHWs, monetary incentives, adequacy of materials and facilitation. Particularly, mHealth was preferred to paper-based methods. Overall, the CHWs’ performance was sub-optimal; only 2 in 10 performed satisfactorily. The main factors that influenced performance included the level of education, use of mHealth, having another occupation, workload and incentivisation. CHWs and IPs preferred mHealth to paper-based methods. IPs should work to improve refugee settlement working conditions for the CHWs and adopt mHealth to improve CHW performance.

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Section: Plos Global Public Healthcontrasting

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Does mHealth influence community health worker performance in vulnerable populations? A mixed methods study in a multinational refugee settlement in Uganda

Wagaba,

Musoke,

Bagonza

et al. 2023

PLOS Glob Public Health

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“…While 92% of the adult population in the U.S. owned a mobile phone in 2015 [ 8 ], up to 97% had a mobile phone in 2021 [ 9 ]. Thereby, the use of mobile health (mHealth) apps has recently risen considerably to provide independent health care time and location [ 10 ]. Between 2014–2017, 235 new apps in the field of dermatology were registered representing a growth of 80.8% [ 11 ], while melanoma-related apps increased by 55.8% [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Over-Detection of Melanoma-Suspect Lesions by a CE-Certified Smartphone App: Performance in Comparison to Dermatologists, 2D and 3D Convolutional Neural Networks in a Prospective Data Set of 1204 Pigmented Skin Lesions Involving Patients’ Perception

Jahn

Navarini

Cerminara

et al. 2022

Cancers

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The exponential increase in algorithm-based mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) for melanoma screening is a reaction to a growing market. However, the performance of available apps remains to be investigated. In this prospective study, we investigated the diagnostic accuracy of a class 1 CE-certified smartphone app in melanoma risk stratification and its patient and dermatologist satisfaction. Pigmented skin lesions ≥3 mm and any suspicious smaller lesions were assessed by the smartphone app SkinVision® (SkinVision® B.V., Amsterdam, the Netherlands, App-Version 6.8.1), 2D FotoFinder ATBM® master (FotoFinder ATBM® Systems GmbH, Bad Birnbach, Germany, Version 3.3.1.0), 3D Vectra® WB360 (Canfield Scientific, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA, Version 4.7.1) total body photography (TBP) devices, and dermatologists. The high-risk score of the smartphone app was compared with the two gold standards: histological diagnosis, or if not available, the combination of dermatologists’, 2D and 3D risk assessments. A total of 1204 lesions among 114 patients (mean age 59 years; 51% females (55 patients at high-risk for developing a melanoma, 59 melanoma patients)) were included. The smartphone app’s sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) varied between 41.3–83.3%, 60.0–82.9%, and 0.62–0.72 according to two study-defined reference standards. Additionally, all patients and dermatologists completed a newly created questionnaire for preference and trust of screening type. The smartphone app was rated as trustworthy by 36% (20/55) of patients at high-risk for melanoma, 49% (29/59) of melanoma patients, and 8.8% (10/114) of dermatologists. Most of the patients rated the 2D TBP imaging (93% (51/55) resp. 88% (52/59)) and the 3D TBP imaging (91% (50/55) resp. 90% (53/59)) as trustworthy. A skin cancer screening by combination of dermatologist and smartphone app was favored by only 1.8% (1/55) resp. 3.4% (2/59) of the patients; no patient preferred an assessment by a smartphone app alone. The diagnostic accuracy in clinical practice was not as reliable as previously advertised and the satisfaction with smartphone apps for melanoma risk stratification was scarce. MHealth apps might be a potential medium to increase awareness for melanoma screening in the lay population, but healthcare professionals and users should be alerted to the potential harm of over-detection and poor performance. In conclusion, we suggest further robust evidence-based evaluation before including market-approved apps in self-examination for public health benefits.

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“…Applied Bionics and Biomechanics has retracted the article titled "Research on the Impact of mHealth Apps on the Primary Healthcare Professionals in Patient Care" [1] due to concerns that the peer review process has been compromised. Following an investigation conducted by the Hindawi Research Integrity team [2] significant concerns were identified with the peer reviewers assigned to this article; the investigation has concluded that the peer review process was compromised.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Applied Bionics and Biomechanics has retracted the article titled “Research on the Impact of mHealth Apps on the Primary Healthcare Professionals in Patient Care” [ 1 ] due to concerns that the peer review process has been compromised.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Retracted: Research on the Impact of mHealth Apps on the Primary Healthcare Professionals in Patient Care

Biomechanics¹

2022

Applied Bionics and Biomechanics

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Research on the Impact of mHealth Apps on the Primary Healthcare Professionals in Patient Care

Cited by 5 publications

References 32 publications

Does mHealth influence community health worker performance in vulnerable populations? A mixed methods study in a multinational refugee settlement in Uganda

Does mHealth influence community health worker performance in vulnerable populations? A mixed methods study in a multinational refugee settlement in Uganda

Over-Detection of Melanoma-Suspect Lesions by a CE-Certified Smartphone App: Performance in Comparison to Dermatologists, 2D and 3D Convolutional Neural Networks in a Prospective Data Set of 1204 Pigmented Skin Lesions Involving Patients’ Perception

Retracted: Research on the Impact of mHealth Apps on the Primary Healthcare Professionals in Patient Care

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