IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devpol/v36y2018i1p111-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What encourages community health workers to use mobile technologies for health interventions? Emerging lessons from rural Rwanda

Author

Listed:
  • Purity Mwendwa

Abstract

This article explores the determinants of using mobile phone technologies for public health (mHealth) through a quantitative study with community health workers (CHWs) in rural Rwanda. A total of 72 CHWs from two districts in Rwanda who were using the mHealth tool, RapidSMS, were surveyed in June 2014. Using a socio†technical approach, user, programme and technical characteristics were tested and deemed influential in determining use. Technical characteristics (reminders and alerts) were by far the strongest predicting factors of use. The user characteristic, age, had no influence on utilization, while supports though training and supervision (programme characteristics) revealed mixed findings. These findings illustrate the uniqueness of each context and reiterate the need to consider social and technical factors when implementing mHealth projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Purity Mwendwa, 2018. "What encourages community health workers to use mobile technologies for health interventions? Emerging lessons from rural Rwanda," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(1), pages 111-129, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:36:y:2018:i:1:p:111-129
    DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12275
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dpr.12275?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ritu Agarwal & V. Sambamurthy & Ralph M. Stair, 2000. "Research Report: The Evolving Relationship Between General and Specific Computer Self-Efficacy—An Empirical Assessment," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 418-430, December.
    2. Bender, Deborah E. & Pitkin, Kathryn, 1987. "Bridging the gap: The village health worker as the cornerstone of the primary health care model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 515-528, January.
    3. Curtale, Filippo & Siwakoti, Bhola & Lagrosa, Cecilia & LaRaja, Massimo & Guerra, Ranieri, 1995. "Improving skills and utilization of Community Health Volunteers in Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1117-1125, April.
    4. Leslie, Charles, 1985. "What caused India's massive community health workers scheme: A sociology of knowledge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 21(8), pages 923-930, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mäntymäki, Matti & Salo, Jari, 2013. "Purchasing behavior in social virtual worlds: An examination of Habbo Hotel," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 282-290.
    2. Jeeyeon Jeong & Yaeri Kim & Taewoo Roh, 2021. "Do Consumers Care About Aesthetics and Compatibility? The Intention to Use Wearable Devices in Health Care," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, August.
    3. Meng Tao & Muhammad Zahid Nawaz & Shahid Nawaz & Asad Hassan Butt & Hassan Ahmad, 2018. "Users’ acceptance of innovative mobile hotel booking trends: UK vs. PRC," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 9-36, December.
    4. Chua Chang Jin & Lim Chee Seong & Aye Aye Khin, 2019. "Factors Affecting the Consumer Acceptance towards Fintech Products and Services in Malaysia," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(1), pages 59-65, January.
    5. Aini Farmania & Riska Dwinda Elsyah & Ananda Fortunisa, 2022. "The Phenomenon of Technostress during the COVID-19 Pandemic Due to Work from Home in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    6. Ozturk, Ahmet Bulent & Bilgihan, Anil & Nusair, Khaldoon & Okumus, Fevzi, 2016. "What keeps the mobile hotel booking users loyal? Investigating the roles of self-efficacy, compatibility, perceived ease of use, and perceived convenience," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1350-1359.
    7. Catalin Angelo Ioan & Gina Ioan, 2015. "The Complete Theory of Cobb-Douglas Production Function," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 11(1), pages 74-114, February.
    8. Yoon, Jeewhan & Vonortas, Nicholas S. & Han, SungWon, 2020. "Do-It-Yourself laboratories and attitude toward use: The effects of self-efficacy and the perception of security and privacy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    9. Dummer, Trevor J.B. & Cook, Ian G., 2008. "Health in China and India: A cross-country comparison in a context of rapid globalisation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 590-605, August.
    10. Mun Y. Yi & Fred D. Davis, 2003. "Developing and Validating an Observational Learning Model of Computer Software Training and Skill Acquisition," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 146-169, June.
    11. Aftab Pervez Khan & Shahnawaz Khan & Ivan Ang Ri Xiang, 2017. "Factors Influencing Consumer Intentions to Adopt Online Banking in Malaysia," Business & Economic Review, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan, vol. 9(2), pages 101-134, June.
    12. Hilda Bongazana Mahlangu, 2015. "Predictors of Facebook Shopping Intentions among South African Generation Y Students," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 11(1), pages 53-65, February.
    13. T. G. Saji & Deepa Paul, 2018. "Behavioural Intention to the Use of Mobile Banking in Kerala: An Application of Extended Classical Technology Acceptance Model," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 17(2), pages 111-119, December.
    14. Maran, Thomas K. & Liegl, Simon & Davila, Andrés & Moder, Sebastian & Kraus, Sascha & Mahto, Raj V., 2022. "Who fits into the digital workplace? Mapping digital self-efficacy and agility onto psychological traits," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    15. Lionel P. Robert Jr. & Tracy Ann Sykes, 2017. "Extending the Concept of Control Beliefs: Integrating the Role of Advice Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 84-96, March.
    16. Bassam Hasan, 2018. "Effects of General and ERP Self-Efficacy Beliefs on the Acceptance of ERP Systems," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(03), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Chou, Shih-Wei & Hsu, Chia-Shiang, 2018. "An empirical investigation on knowledge use in virtual communities–A relationship development perspective," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 243-255.
    18. Kerstin Pezoldt & Jana Schliewe, 2012. "Akzeptanz von Self-Service-Technologien: State of the Art," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 205-253, March.
    19. Nicolae Ipate & Mariana Trandafir & Iudith Ipate, 2015. "Innovative Approaches to Management Health Needed to Make Ecosanogenesis," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 11(1), pages 66-73, February.
    20. Craig W. Fisher & InduShobha Chengalur-Smith & Donald P. Ballou, 2003. "The Impact of Experience and Time on the Use of Data Quality Information in Decision Making," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 170-188, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:36:y:2018:i:1:p:111-129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/odioruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.