Availability and Use of Mobile Health Technology for Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Support by Health Workers in the Ashanti Region of Ghana: A Cross-sectional Survey

Osei, E.; Agyei, K.; Tlou, B.; Mashamba-Thompson, T. P.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have been identified as promising strategies for improving access to healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. However, the extent of availability and use of mHealth among healthcare professionals in Ghana is not known. The main objective of this study is to determine the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support by health professionals in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 285 healthcare professionals across 100 primary healthcare clinics in the Ashanti Region, Ghana. We obtained data on the participants' background, available health infrastructure, healthcare workforce competency, ownership of a mobile wireless device, usefulness of mHealth, ease of use of mHealth, user satisfaction, and behavioural intention to use mHealth. Descriptive statistics were conducted to characterize healthcare professionals' demographics and clinical features. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the influence of the demographic factors on the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support. STATA version 15 was used to compute all the statistical analyses. Findings: Out of the 285 healthcare professionals, 62.8% indicated that mHealth applications are available to them, while 37.2% had no access to mHealth. Of the 185 healthcare professionals who had access to mHealth, 98.4% are currently using mHealth to support healthcare delivery. Logistic regression model analysis significantly (p< 0.05) identified factors associated with the availability and use of mHealth applications for disease diagnosis and treatment support. There was a significant association between the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support from the chi-square test analysis. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate a low-level use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support by healthcare professionals at the rural primary healthcare clinics. We encourage policymakers to promote the implementation of mHealth in rural primary health clinics.