Mobile Health Technology Evaluation

Globally, the advancement of mobile technology and the growing number of mobile phone users has promoted the boom in mobile health services. The influence of mobile technology has, in fact, made healthcare delivery more accessible, affordable and effective today. Consumers are thus increasingly using mobile devices as health service delivery aids across various countries. However, questions remain as to how consumer traits like personal innovativeness and self-efficacy, financial costs related to the service delivery and demographics like age and gender may affect the usage and adoption of mobile health services, especially for emerging economies like Bangladesh. Conceptual model of the study identifies self-efficacy, facilitating conditions, effort expectancy and performance expectancy to be significant constructs that influences users' overall perceptions of mobile health services, along with moderating effects of both age and gender upon the selected factors. Finally, the study highlights managerial implications, future research directions and limitations.

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The Impact of Social Mobilization on Health Service Delivery and Health Outcomes

10.1093/oso/9780198829591.003.0011 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Xavier Giné ◽

Salma Khalid ◽

Mansuri Ghazala

Keyword(s):

Health Services ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Health Workers ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Health Providers ◽

Child Health Outcomes ◽

Rural Pakistan ◽

Post Natal Care ◽

The Impact

This chapter uses a randomized community development programme in rural Pakistan to assess the impact of citizen engagement on public service delivery and maternal and child health outcomes. The programme had a strong emphasis on organizing women, who also identified health services as a development priority at baseline. At midline, we find that the mobilization effort alone had a significant impact on the performance of village-based health providers. We detect economically large improvements in pregnancy and well-baby visits by female health workers, as well as increased utilization of pre- and post-natal care by pregnant women. In contrast, the quality of supra-village health services did not improve, underscoring the importance of community enforcement and monitoring capacity for improving service delivery.

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Investigating the factors that influence use of ICTs for citizen engagement in Malawi

10.21504/10962/177019 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Rachel Sibande

Keyword(s):

Service Delivery ◽

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Citizen Engagement ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

Social Constructs ◽

Utaut Model ◽

Utility Companies ◽

And Gender ◽

Radio Programs

Literature has suggested that Malawians are keen to participate. Malawian’s willingness to participate is evident as the country has recorded high voter turnouts during the elections in recent decades. However, literature also suggests that there is minimal citizen engagement in between elections. Elsewhere, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been used to enhance citizen engagement, but ICT led citizen engagement is still an emerging field and yet to be explored as an area of research particularly in Malawi. We thus sought to explore if the use of ICTs could improve citizen engagement with councils, councilors, and utility companies that provide water and electricity in Malawi. We developed and deployed an ICT platform called Mzinda which means My location in Malawi’s populous Chichewa language. The platform provided various channels for citizens and duty bearers to engage via SMS, USSD, web and a mobile application. We sought to understand the factors that influence citizen’s behavior intention to use an ICT platform to engage. We applied the modified UTAUT model by including Attitude and Self Efficacy social constructs that have among others been cited as limitations of the UTAUT model. We conducted factor loadings of six social constructs of the modified UTAUT model to validate content and reexamine the model in the context of citizen engagement using ICTs in Malawi. We found that, Attitude and Self Efficacy were not significant determinants of the Behaviour Intention for citizens to use the ICT platform. However, 75% of the Behaviour Intention was influenced by Perfomance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy as moderated by age and gender. Empirical evidence showed that responsiveness and actionability of councils and councillors had improved. We also learned that citizens believed that service delivery had improved and that they had more influence over councils, councillors, and the utility companies because of using the ICT platform. We conclude by noting that improvements in service delivery; enhanced responsiveness and actionability of councils, councillors and the utility companies were not necessarily as a result of the ICT platform alone; but a combination of ICTs and non-technology mechanisms of engaging the stakeholders through community campaigns, radio programs, print media engagement, community meetings and debates among others. It is evident that ICTs are not the panacea of all citizen engagement problems. This research can be useful to researchers and practitioners in the technology and citizen engagement domains.

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Health Needs of Trans and Gender Diverse Adults in Australia: A Qualitative Analysis of a National Community Survey

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16245088 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (24) ◽

pp. 5088 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sav Zwickl ◽

Alex Wong ◽

Ingrid Bretherton ◽

Max Rainier ◽

Daria Chetcuti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Services ◽

Best Practice ◽

Online Survey ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Free Text ◽

Healthcare Needs ◽

Gender Diverse ◽

And Gender

There is an increasing demand for trans and gender diverse (TGD) health services worldwide. Given the unique and diverse healthcare needs of the TGD community, best practice TGD health services should be community-led. We aimed to understand the healthcare needs of a broad group of TGD Australians, how health professionals could better support TGD people, and gain an understanding of TGD-related research priorities. An anonymous online survey received 928 eligible responses from TGD Australian adults. This paper focuses on three questions out of that survey that allowed for free-text responses. The data were qualitatively coded, and overarching themes were identified for each question. Better training for healthcare professionals and more accessible transgender healthcare were the most commonly reported healthcare needs of participants. Findings highlight a pressing need for better training for healthcare professionals in transgender healthcare. In order to meet the demand for TGD health services, more gender services are needed, and in time, mainstreaming health services in primary care will likely improve accessibility. Evaluation of training strategies and further research into optimal models of TGD care are needed; however, until further data is available, views of the TGD community should guide research priorities and the TGD health service delivery.

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Management of Devolved Health Services and Healthcare Service Delivery in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands in Kenya

International Journal of Business and Management ◽

10.5539/ijbm.v14n10p21 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

Abdihafid Abdullahi Yarow ◽

Shadrack Jirma ◽

Elijah Siringi

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Services ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Fiscal Decentralization ◽

Care Service ◽

Health Care Service ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Arid Lands ◽

Financial Resources ◽

Semi Arid

The 2010 Constitution provides a legal framework that guarantees an all-inclusive rights-based approach to health service delivery to Kenyans. It provides that Kenyans are entitled to the highest attainable standards of health, which includes the right to healthcare services including reproductive health care (Article 43). The purpose of this study was to investigate the the extent to which management of devolved health services influence health-care service delivery in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands in Kenya. This study was guided by fiscal decentralization theory and theory of performance improvement, as well as sequential theory of decentralization. This study used a triangulation of both positivism and phenomenology. The population under this study constitute the Sub-Counties in ASAL in Kenya with a sample size of 89 Sub-Counties being sampled and 3 patients from each of the 89 sampled sub counties. This study found that, since the onset of devolution, there has been introduction of more healthcare facilities at counties in ASAL resulting with sub-county leaderships have been largely considering the opinions raised by the residents while implementing health services decisions. Management of devolved health services, healthcare has greatly made health facilities and services more accessible to residents compared to before with the previous five years recording great improvement in the quality of the health services at county health centers. The national government should therefore consider increasing financial resources to counties, which would eventually enhance health manpower for better service delivery. This study therefore recommends that the hospitals management should come up with strategies that can help improve financial resources to fund facilities improvement.

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The Roles of Indigenous NGOs in Health Service Delivery in Ghana: Assessing the Mediating Effect of Administrative Authenticity on the Relationship Between Partnership Potential and Performance

10.7176/rhss/9-22-03 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

And Performance ◽

The Relationship

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The Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Health Service Delivery in Namibia

E-Agriculture and E-Government for Global Policy Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-820-8.ch012 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 191-206

Author(s):

Meke I. Shivute ◽

Blessing M. Maumbe

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

Health Services ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Mobile Phones ◽

Communication Technologies ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Health Service Providers ◽

Information And Communication ◽

Sub Saharan

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have transformed health service delivery (HSD) in developing countries although the benefits are not yet fully understood. This chapter examines the use of ICT for HSD in the Namibian context. To obtain insights into the extent and degree of the current ICT uses, the chapter begins by mapping a HSD landscape for Namibia. The reported ICT use patterns are based on a primary survey of 134 patients and key informant interviews held with 27 health service providers (HSPs) in Khomas and Oshana regions of Namibia. The results from the survey indicate that Namibian patients use diverse range of ICT to access health services including the traditional television and radio, and the more modern mobile phones and computers to a limited extent. HSPs reported the growing use of ICT in various functional areas such as admissions, clinical support, family planning, maternity, and emergency services. The chapter identifies key challenges and policy implications to enhance the uptake of ICT-based health services in Namibia. The relatively high penetration rates of traditional ICT such as televisions and radios coupled with a growing use of mobile phones presents new alternative opportunities for expanding HSD to Namibian patients in remote settings. The chapter will benefit HSP and patients as they decide on affordable technology choices; and policy makers as they design interventions to stimulate the use of ICT in HSD in Namibia. The results provide key insights for other Sub-Saharan African countries contemplating ICT integration in health services.

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The Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Health Service Delivery in Namibia

Health Information Systems ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-988-5.ch068 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 1074-1089

Author(s):

Meke I. Shivute ◽

Blessing M. Maumbe

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

Health Services ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Mobile Phones ◽

Communication Technologies ◽

Health Service Delivery ◽

Health Service Providers ◽

Information And Communication ◽

Sub Saharan

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have transformed health service delivery (HSD) in developing countries although the benefits are not yet fully understood. This chapter examines the use of ICT for HSD in the Namibian context. To obtain insights into the extent and degree of the current ICT uses, the chapter begins by mapping a HSD landscape for Namibia. The reported ICT use patterns are based on a primary survey of 134 patients and key informant interviews held with 27 health service providers (HSPs) in Khomas and Oshana regions of Namibia. The results from the survey indicate that Namibian patients use diverse range of ICT to access health services including the traditional television and radio, and the more modern mobile phones and computers to a limited extent. HSPs reported the growing use of ICT in various functional areas such as admissions, clinical support, family planning, maternity, and emergency services. The chapter identifies key challenges and policy implications to enhance the uptake of ICT-based health services in Namibia. The relatively high penetration rates of traditional ICT such as televisions and radios coupled with a growing use of mobile phones presents new alternative opportunities for expanding HSD to Namibian patients in remote settings. The chapter will benefit HSP and patients as they decide on affordable technology choices; and policy makers as they design interventions to stimulate the use of ICT in HSD in Namibia. The results provide key insights for other Sub-Saharan African countries contemplating ICT integration in health services.

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