Understanding community health workers’ intentions to participate in mHealth studies within developing countries

ABSTRACT

In relation to mobile health (mHealth) initiatives, early engagement by potential end users has been established to have a positive impact both in the medium- to long-term adoption of the solution. However, there remains a paucity of research which focuses on participant recruitment for mHealth initiatives in developing countries. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to examine community health workers’ (CHWs’) intentions to participate in a mHealth pilot study in Malawi, Africa. A conceptual model with three characteristics is derived from the existing literature which may influence a CHW’s intentions: namely, (1) participant, (2) pilot study, and (3) social and contextual characteristics. A paper-based survey of CHWs was employed to examine the model, analysed using the partial least squares method of structural equation modelling. This study reveals that participant and pilot study characteristics primarily influence the decision-making process of CHWs when considering their participation in pilot studies. Health policy-makers and professionals should focus on reducing uncertainty by promoting the importance of the study at individual and societal levels and ensuring that potential end users are competent interacting and using mHealth.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobile health
• developing countries
• research subject recruitment
• pilot studies

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the work of those individuals who were involved in the survey distribution and participation in Malawi, Africa.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The Supporting LIFE project (305292) is funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Commission – www.supportinglife.eu.