Boroto Hwabamungu
ABSTRACT
The penetration of mobile phones and mobile technologies in developing countries has led to innovative developments of various m-Health applications. These applications have proven the potential of mobile technologies for improving the quality of health care service in general and the fight against HIV/AIDS in particular. However, to achieve greater impact on the ground level (e.g. in an antiretroviral (ARV) treatment clinic) in a developing country's context, these applications have to be adopted and their utilization sustained. A study was undertaken to investigate sustainability and scalability challenges of mobile phone-based applications/projects for HIV/AIDS care in developing countries and the adoption and sustainability prospects of such m-Health applications in an ARV clinic in Pretoria. The findings presented here, are that from a care givers' and patients' perspective, adoption and sustainability of these applications is not merely dependent on the proposed technology's capabilities to enhance service delivery. Adoption and sustainability is however, mostly dependant on: (1) the care givers and patients' willingness and capability to incur any technological adoption and continuous use costs and, (2) their pre-conceived notions of government or sponsor-supported service provision.
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Index Terms
- m-Health adoption and sustainability prognosis from a care givers' and patients' perspective
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Reviews
Clarence E Younger
Mobile phones are used in mobile health (m-health) applications in various settings [1]. They enable and enhance communication between patients and caregivers, making m-health a viable approach to improving HIV/AIDS antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Successful use of a mobile-based m-health solution depends on adoption, to account for social and environmental factors. A central concern is that initial deployments must be sustained-patients, sponsors, or government sources must support these costs. Therefore, technology adoption is at the heart of the success (or failure) of information technology (IT) deployment. Ammenwerth et al.'s study on IT adoption [2] found that failure to provide sustained support is a barrier to an IT program's success. This interpretive, qualitative study of the use of mobile phones and applications suggests that technology-based solutions to acquiring patient data are important tools in the HIV/AIDS battle. For example, m-health tools make patient condition and status information more easily available to caregivers, enabling them to better manage treatment regimes and provisioning. Additionally, these m-health applications improve records management by reducing errors in recording and by retrieving transcriptions of patient records. This study is part of a larger project in which m-health solutions are being shown to be viable in many contexts. On the other hand, a specific conclusion can be drawn: technology adoption-in terms of information security concerns, viability, and financial sustainability-is a significant, unresolved issue. In the context of HIV/AIDS treatment, and considering established patient/caregiver workflow tasks, findings suggest that the m-health approach can improve care. Online Computing Reviews Service
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