Delivering health services on mobile phone technology: a Kenyan Case Study on factors affecting Consumer Acceptance of the Technology

Abstract

There is a growing interest and need for more sophisticated health information systems and the call for bringing health care to the patient when and where it is required. This is creating a growing demand for timely information and services by both the patient and the health care provider. However, there exists limited research into how this technology is accepted by the end users. This research project was undertaken to identify the various factors that influence the user acceptance of electronic health using mobile phone in Kenya. It sought to achieve this by gaining an insight into the end user of e-health perception. Mobile Phones are a popular technology capable of portable computing and data access. These features could be helpful for delivering health care services. Participants viewed a presentation introducing Mobile Phone services for interacting with health professionals, taking health actions, delivering health information, and managing health care services. Afterwards, semi-structured interviews inquired about their perceptions and acceptance of the technology. A qualitative methodology was used for this project. Forty adult health consumers who had chronic health conditions with experience in health services delivered through information technology, or had not. Each participant's perception of e-health technology was discussed using a questionnaire via a semi-structured interview. The interviews were then qualitatively analyzed. All participants intended to use the technology: thirty were ready to adopt immediately, while ten intended to adopt later upon the need or when particular conditions were met. Among all respondents, sixteen were interested in adopting a selection of the services only. Several factors emerged shaped their motivation to adopt the technology considering their health status and health environment, their personality, and the perceived helpfulness of the technology. Helpfulness was determined by their positive and negative perceptions of the technology usability and safety. Participants had positive view of the technology support for healthy behaviors, foster quality and efficiency of care. The negative perceptions were concerns that the technology requires immense resources, skills, stressful to use and neglects the social dimension of health care. Suggestion for safe, responsive, and inclusive mobile health systems was recommended. Implementation of Mobile Phone health services should respond to health consumers' interests and concerns. The results of this study confirm that users' perceptions are significantly associated with their motivation to use Mobile Phones for health services. Perceived ease of use was found to have significant effects on users motivations.