Overcoming the barriers of mobile health that hamper sustainability in low-resource environments
| Autor: | Alfred Benedikt Brendel, Lutz M. Kolbe, Maike Greve, Nils van Osten |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Process management
020205 medical informatics Process (engineering) business.industry Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Psychological intervention 02 engineering and technology Grounded theory 03 medical and health sciences Intervention (law) 0302 clinical medicine Knowledge base Sustainability 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering 030212 general & internal medicine Business mHealth Qualitative research |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Public Health. 30:49-62 |
| ISSN: | 1613-2238 2198-1833 |
| Popis: | Aim This research aims to identify response strategies that non-profit organizations (NPOs) can apply to overcome the barriers that hamper the sustainable use of mobile health (mHealth) interventions in low-resource environments (LREs), such as in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Subject and method A qualitative study on mHealth initiatives in SSA is conducted through semi-structured interviews with 15 key informants of NPOs that operate and manage mHealth interventions in this region. The interviews focus on identifying existing barriers and response strategies that NPOs apply to enable sustainable and long-term running interventions. Results Building on grounded theory techniques, the collected data guided us towards a process model that identifies four aggregated categories of challenging areas that require response strategies (economy, environment, technology, and user acceptance). Conclusion This study provides contributions from and implications for NPOs and researchers. Health practitioners are provided with a knowledge base of what barriers to expect and how to overcome them, to strive for sustainable implementation from the very beginning of an intervention. A process model is identified that structures the response strategies in a time-based agenda of mHealth initiatives and thus makes a theoretical contribution. Overall, this study addresses the need for a theoretical consideration of the “pilotitis” phenomenon, which currently hampers the sustainable implementation and scaling up of mHealth initiatives. While the focus is specifically on mHealth initiatives, the overall findings help prevent discontinuance of projects in the future after the pilot, and help facilitate LREs on their way to sustainable health interventions and universal health coverage. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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