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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    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. Peng, Zeyu & Sun, Yongqiang & Guo, Xitong, 2018. "Antecedents of employees’ extended use of enterprise systems: An integrative view of person, environment, and technology," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 104-120.
    3. Davis, Robert & Lang, Bodo, 2012. "Modeling the effect of self-efficacy on game usage and purchase behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 67-77.
    4. Ali, Muhammad & Chin-Hong, Puah & Arif, Imtiaz, 2015. "Determinants of e-banking adoption: A non-users perspective in Pakistan," MPRA Paper 67878, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Oct 2015.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Leroy Robinson, 2017. "Embracing online education: exploring options for success," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 99-111, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Kwok-Kee Wei & Hock-Hai Teo & Hock Chuan Chan & Bernard C. Y. Tan, 2011. "Conceptualizing and Testing a Social Cognitive Model of the Digital Divide," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 170-187, March.
    12. Jiang, Tzuu-Hwa & Chen, Shieh-Liang & Chen, James K.C., 2016. "Examining the role of behavioral intention on multimedia teaching materials using FSQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2252-2258.
    13. Weiyin Hong & Frank K. Y. Chan & James Y. L. Thong & Lewis C. Chasalow & Gurpreet Dhillon, 2014. "A Framework and Guidelines for Context-Specific Theorizing in Information Systems Research," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 111-136, March.
    14. Merikivi, J. & Verhagen, T. & Feldberg, J.F.M., 2010. "Having belief(s) in social virtual worlds: A decomposed approach," Serie Research Memoranda 0010, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    15. 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.
    16. Riviere-Cinnamond, Ana, 2005. "Animal Health Policy and Practice: Scaling-up Community-based Animal Health Systems, Lessons from Human Health," PPLPI Working Papers 23775, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative.
    17. 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).
    18. Radhika Santhanam & Sharath Sasidharan & Jane Webster, 2008. "Using Self-Regulatory Learning to Enhance E-Learning-Based Information Technology Training," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 26-47, March.
    19. 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.
    20. Nan Zhang & Xunhua Guo & Guoqing Chen, 2011. "Why adoption and use behavior of IT/IS cannot last?—two studies in China," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 381-395, July.

    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.