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

Montazeri, Mahdieh; Galavi, Zahra; Ahmadian, Leila

doi:10.1177/20552076231171969

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 72 publications

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“…This suggests that mHealth could be a potential alternative to the standard laboratory-based confirmatory diagnosis to find COVID-19 cases. Previous studies have shown that mHealth technologies could have significant contributions to self-care for patients with COVID-19 [35] and the dissemination of COVID-19-related information [36,37]. As mHealth and other digital health technologies are yet at an early stage of development in Africa, the capacity and readiness of each country to effectively adopt, implement, and scale up digital health interventions require due diligence [38][39][40][41][42].…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile Health–Supported Active Syndrome Surveillance for COVID-19 Early Case Finding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Comparative Study

Bisrat¹,

Manyazewal²,

Fekadu³

2023

Interact J Med Res

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Background Since most people in low-income countries do not have access to reliable laboratory services, early diagnosis of life-threatening diseases like COVID-19 remains challenging. Facilitating real-time assessment of the health status in a given population, mobile health (mHealth)–supported syndrome surveillance might help identify disease conditions earlier and save lives cost-effectively. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the potential use of mHealth-supported active syndrome surveillance for COVID-19 early case finding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among adults randomly selected from the Ethio telecom list of mobile phone numbers. Participants underwent a comprehensive phone interview for COVID-19 syndromic assessments, and their symptoms were scored and interpreted based on national guidelines. Participants who exhibited COVID-19 syndromes were advised to have COVID-19 diagnostic testing at nearby health care facilities and seek treatment accordingly. Participants were asked about their test results, and these were cross-checked against the actual facility-based data. Estimates of COVID-19 detection by mHealth-supported syndromic assessments and facility-based tests were compared using Cohen Kappa (κ), the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, and specificity analysis. Results A total of 2741 adults (n=1476, 53.8% men and n=1265, 46.2% women) were interviewed through the mHealth platform during the period from December 2021 to February 2022. Among them, 1371 (50%) had COVID-19 symptoms at least once and underwent facility-based COVID-19 diagnostic testing as self-reported, with 884 (64.5%) confirmed cases recorded in facility-based registries. The syndrome assessment model had an optimal likelihood cut-off point sensitivity of 46% (95% CI 38.4-54.6) and specificity of 98% (95% CI 96.7-98.9). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.87 (95% CI 0.83-0.91). The level of agreement between the mHealth-supported syndrome assessment and the COVID-19 test results was moderate (κ=0.54, 95% CI 0.46-0.60). Conclusions In this study, the level of agreement between the mHealth-supported syndromic assessment and the actual laboratory-confirmed results for COVID-19 was found to be reasonable, at 89%. The mHealth-supported syndromic assessment of COVID-19 represents a potential alternative method to the standard laboratory-based confirmatory diagnosis, enabling the early detection of COVID-19 cases in hard-to-reach communities, and informing patients about self-care and disease management in a cost-effective manner. These findings can guide future research efforts in developing and integrating digital health into continuous active surveillance of emerging infectious diseases.

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Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile Health–Supported Active Syndrome Surveillance for COVID-19 Early Case Finding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Comparative Study

Bisrat¹,

Manyazewal²,

Fekadu³

2023

Interact J Med Res

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Digital Psychiatry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions

Sidani,

Nadar,

Tfaili

et al. 2024

Journal of Psychiatric Practice

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Recently, the field of psychiatry has experienced a transformative shift with the integration of digital tools into traditional therapeutic approaches. Digital psychiatry encompasses a wide spectrum of applications, ranging from digital phenotyping, smartphone applications, wearable devices, virtual/augmented reality, and artificial intelligence (AI). This convergence of digital innovations has the potential to revolutionize mental health care, enhancing both accessibility and patient outcomes. However, despite significant progress in the field of digital psychiatry, its implementation presents a plethora of challenges and ethical considerations. Critical problems that require careful investigation are raised by issues such as data privacy, the digital divide, legal frameworks, and the dependability of digital instruments. Furthermore, there are potential risks and several hazards associated with the integration of digital tools into psychiatric practice. A better understanding of the growing field of digital psychiatry is needed to promote the development of effective interventions and improve the accuracy of diagnosis. The overarching goal of this review paper is to provide an overview of some of the current opportunities in digital psychiatry, highlighting both its potential benefits and inherent challenges. This review paper also aims at providing guidelines for future research and for the proper integration of digital psychiatry into clinical practice.

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Role of mobile health applications in prevention and detection of pandemic disease: A population perspective

Elbilgahy,

Alenezi,

Alruwaili

et al. 2024

DIGITAL HEALTH

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Background The Saudi government and the MOH launched six mobile application help in tracking positive cases, get medical consultation from home, and vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our study was conducted to evaluate the role of mobile health applications in the prevention and detection of pandemic disease from population perspectives. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive exploratory research design was utilized in this study. Based on the sample size calculation (described below), we recruited a convenience sample of 462 participants from the Northern Border Region according to the set of inclusion and exclusion criteria: Anyone over 12 years of age, including both genders and both Saudi citizens and non-Saudi citizens, were eligible to participate during the period from March 2022 to the end of July. Results In total 462 were participated, and 79.2% of them were females. There was a statistically significant difference between educational level and the overall score of public satisfaction with the ease of use of mobile health applications as well as overall satisfaction with the services provided by mobile health apps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, there was a statistically significant difference between gender and the role of mobile applications in the prevention of COVID-19 ( p = 0.028). Conclusion The study found that most participants agree that the mobile health applications launched by the Saudi government and Ministry of Health have been successful in aiding the anticipation and early detection of COVID-19 cases, as well as facilitating access to healthcare services. Over half of the participants strongly agree that these mobile applications have been very effective and beneficial for their health and have helped save time.

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

Cited by 3 publications

References 72 publications

Mobile Health–Supported Active Syndrome Surveillance for COVID-19 Early Case Finding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Comparative Study

Mobile Health–Supported Active Syndrome Surveillance for COVID-19 Early Case Finding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Comparative Study

Digital Psychiatry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions

Role of mobile health applications in prevention and detection of pandemic disease: A population perspective

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