The use of Mobile Phones in Strengthening Health and Demographic Data Collection by Community key Informants : Experiences from the Kintampo Health and Demographic Surveillance System

Identification and reporting of vital events such as births and deaths remain a challenge within communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). LMICs are recently experiencing high mobile phone penetration. This study, therefore, explored the feasibility of Community Key Informants (CKIs) using mobile phone technology to improve reporting of vital events at the community level. Sixty CKIs were purposively sampled from the Kintampo Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS) setting based on mobile phone ownership. CKIs were grouped into an intervention and a control group. The intervention arm was provided with mobile phone air time to report vital events that occurred in their communities. The control group used the routine system of reporting in the KHDSS. The number of vital events reported by CKIs increased at the end line compared to baseline: (pregnancy: 40.25% to 72.80%; birth: 56.52% to 69.80%; deaths: 33.33% to 68.60%). The time interval between event identification and reporting was much shorter for the intervention group at the end line compared to baseline: (Intervention: 95.06 days to 31.35 days, Control: 87.54 days to 80.57 days). This study demonstrated the feasibility of CKIs using a mobile phone in reporting vital events more timely and effectively.

Efficacy of Mobile Phone Technology for Managing Side Effects Associated with Chemotherapy among Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background To establish the evidence related to the efficacy of mobile phone technology for managing side effects of chemotherapy and improved quality of life among patients with cancer. Methods Articles published in peer-reviewed journals were included in this review. Randomized control trials (RCTs) and non-randomized control trials (non-RCTs) consisting of mobile-based interventions (mobile application, smart phone App-based interventions or guidelines to manage side-effects of chemotherapy or mobile health services), and adult cancer patients (aged 18 or above years) as participants who were undergoing chemotherapy and received mobile phone-based interventions as an interventional group versus control/comparator group who were getting routine or usual care were included in this systematic review. Databases such as Scopus, Science Direct, Cochrane library, PubMed, and Google Scholar were systematically searched between 2007 and 2020. Using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, the methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated by two independent authors. Results We included 10 trials, involving 1467 cancer patients and the number of participants ranged from 50 to 457. All trials measured the side effects of chemotherapy as the main outcome and three trials measured the quality of life as the main outcome.Ten trials included for narrative synthesis showed a significant decrease in chemotherapy side effects and considerable improvement in the quality of life in the interventional group than in the comparison group. Meta-analysis of four RCTs containing 803 subjects concluded a significant improvement (p < 0.0001) in the quality of life.A significant improvement in the quality of life was revealed by random effects model (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.17, −0.46) and a significant difference (Z = 4.37, p < 0.001) was identified between experimental and control groups. Conclusion Current review strengthens the evidence that utilizing mobile-phone based technology has favorable effects on improving the quality of life by minimizing side-effects associated with chemotherapy among cancer patients.

Definition of an FHIR-based multiprotocol IoT home gateway to support the dynamic plug of new devices within instrumented environments

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have become a milestone advancement in the digital healthcare domain, since the number of IoT medical devices is grown exponentially, and it is now anticipated that by 2020, there will be over 161 million of them connected worldwide. Therefore, in an era of continuous growth, IoT healthcare faces various challenges, such as the collection over multiple protocols (e.g. Bluetooth, MQTT, CoAP, ZigBEE, etc.) the interpretation, as well as the harmonization of the data format that derive from the existing huge amounts of heterogeneous IoT medical devices. In this respect, this study aims at proposing an advanced Home Gateway architecture that offers a unique data collection module, supporting direct data acquisition over multiple protocols (i.e.BLE, MQTT) and indirect data retrieval from cloud health services (i.e. GoogleFit). Moreover, the solution propose a mechanism to automatically convert the original data format, carried over BLE, in HL7 FHIR by exploiting device capabilities semantic annotation implemented by means of FHIR resource as well. The adoption of such annotation enables the dynamic plug of new sensors within the instrumented environment without the need to stop and adapt the gateway. This simplifies the dynamic devices landscape customization requested by the several telemedicine applications contexts (e.g. CVD, Diabetes) and demonstrate, for the first time, a concrete example of using the FHIR standard not only (as usual) for health resources representation and storage but also as instrument to enable seamless integration of IoT devices. The proposed solution also relies on mobile phone technology which is widely adopted aiming at reducing any obstacle for a larger adoption.

Social Utility of Mobile Phone Technology by Undergraduate University Students in Nairobi, Kenya

This study investigated social utility as a gratification factor influencing mobile phone technology use by public university undergraduate students in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the study was to examine the influence of social utility on undergraduate university students’ use of mobile phone technology. The study employed media technological determinism theory. Target population was 246,871 undergraduate university students in public universities in Nairobi, Kenya. The study employed quantitative design. Self-administered questionnaires were used as data collection tools. The study utilized purposive sampling to arrive at a sample size of 573 undergraduate students. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and then processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Findings revealed that mobile phone technology has become essential in social utility activities among undergraduate university students. The research concluded that the more the need for social utility, the more the need for mobile phone technology use among undergraduate university students. The research recommended that software developers should develop a specific mobile phone software for university students to use for social utility and that another research could be carried among postgraduate students and among private universities to find out other gratification factors that may be influencing mobile phone technology use.

A Structured Teaching Programme on the Knowledge and Levels of Nomophobia and its Prevention among the Selected Colleges of Surendernagar District of Gujarat

The prevalence of nomophobia is very high among adolescents. Adolescents need to be aware of the new disease which have come across through the over usage of mobile phone. Nowadays it is very easy to convey our feelings and messages in the remote corners of the world through the use of mobile phone technology. The communication through the mobile phone is very simple and is basics of all relations. Mobile technology helps the people to transfer the message form one person to another within short period of time. Based on this the present study was carried to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on the knowledge and prevalence level of nomophobia among the selected colleges of Surendernagar district of Gujarat. Pre-experimental study was carried out among college students with one group pre test and post test was used to find out the findings of the study. The purposive sampling technique was used to carry out this study. 50 College students were selected from different college of C.U. Shah University. Data was collected with the help of structured demographic questionnaire and the structured knowledge questionnaire. Pre test was conducted on the first day and on the same day teaching programme was given to the students and the effectiveness of the teaching programme was checked on the eighth day. The overall test knowledge score was to be 43.4% where the overall post test knowledge score was found to be 85.5% which was to be very significant. An association was also carried to find out the significance of the socio demographic characteristics on the knowledge score.

Has mobile phone technology aided the growth of agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa?

Background: A recent increase in the adoption of mobile phone technology generated a great deal of interest and optimism regarding its effect on economic development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly on the enhancement of agricultural development.Aim: In this study the impact of mobile phone technology on agricultural productivity in SSA is examined.Setting: The empirical assessment uses a panel data set covering 41 countries over a period of 25 years.Methods: We employed an econometric approach and panel data covering 41 countries and a 25 year-period (1990–2014) to investigate the effect of the adoption of mobile phone technology and other socio-economic variables on agricultural total factor productivity (TFP). The use of regression analyses allowed us to estimate and measure the contribution of certain variables to agricultural TFP growth in SSA.Results: The results show that the uptake of mobile phone technology had a positive effect on agricultural TFP growth in SSA.Conclusion: Mobile phone technology has been established to be one of the drivers of agricultural productivity in SSA.Implication: The implications of this study are that governments, NGOs, and businesses working on improving agricultural productivity and food security in SSA need to continue endorsing mobile technology as a means to improve agricultural productivity.

SmartCharge Digital Streetscape: Integrating mobile phones more urbanistically through streetscape interventions

<p>Mobile phone technology is rapidly changing our world, how we interact with one another, and our built environment. This thesis investigates how we can integrate mobile phone technology more urbanistically. There is a tendency for designs of this kind to be a short-term artistic gesture that do not interact with their surrounding environment in either a long term or meaningful way. This thesis argues that the ability of a design to outwardly impact its environment should be considered; rather than sustaining the common belief that design installations only act as a momentary or disposable implementation. It will examine how design can reinvigorate a space and be absorbed into a city’s everyday routine, in a way that it allows it to become permanent and valuable to the streetscape and the community. This thesis focuses on our dependency on mobile phones by exploring how these devices can overlap with the urban environment through a streetscape intervention. Choosing to test the design of a recharge station across different sites will allow the investigation of the design’s ability to be adapted into different city environments. These stations will be developed with the intention of creating social hotspots that could have a positive outward effect which impacts their urban setting and surroundings. Ultimately these installations will allow us to become digitally and physically connected with society and our city.</p>

SmartCharge Digital Streetscape: Integrating mobile phones more urbanistically through streetscape interventions

<p>Mobile phone technology is rapidly changing our world, how we interact with one another, and our built environment. This thesis investigates how we can integrate mobile phone technology more urbanistically. There is a tendency for designs of this kind to be a short-term artistic gesture that do not interact with their surrounding environment in either a long term or meaningful way. This thesis argues that the ability of a design to outwardly impact its environment should be considered; rather than sustaining the common belief that design installations only act as a momentary or disposable implementation. It will examine how design can reinvigorate a space and be absorbed into a city’s everyday routine, in a way that it allows it to become permanent and valuable to the streetscape and the community. This thesis focuses on our dependency on mobile phones by exploring how these devices can overlap with the urban environment through a streetscape intervention. Choosing to test the design of a recharge station across different sites will allow the investigation of the design’s ability to be adapted into different city environments. These stations will be developed with the intention of creating social hotspots that could have a positive outward effect which impacts their urban setting and surroundings. Ultimately these installations will allow us to become digitally and physically connected with society and our city.</p>