Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul 12;15(Suppl 1):47.
doi: 10.1186/s12961-017-0211-y.

Situating mobile health: a qualitative study of mHealth expectations in the rural health district of Nouna, Burkina Faso

Vincent Duclos  1 , Maurice Yé  2 , Kagoné Moubassira  2 , Hamidou Sanou  2 , N Hélène Sawadogo  2 , Gilles Bibeau  3 , Ali Sié  2
Affiliations

Situating mobile health: a qualitative study of mHealth expectations in the rural health district of Nouna, Burkina Faso

Vincent Duclos et al. Health Res Policy Syst. .

Abstract

Background: The implementation of mobile health (mHealth) projects in low- and middle-income countries raises high and well-documented expectations among development agencies, policymakers and researchers. By contrast, the expectations of direct and indirect mHealth users are not often examined. In preparation for a proposed intervention in the Nouna Health District, in rural Burkina Faso, this study investigates the expected benefits, challenges and limitations associated with mHealth, approaching these expectations as a form of situated knowledge, inseparable from local conditions, practices and experiences.

Methods: The study was conducted within the Nouna Health District. We used a qualitative approach, and conducted individual semi-structured interviews and group interviews (n = 10). Participants included healthcare workers (n = 19), godmothers (n = 24), pregnant women (n = 19), women with children aged 12-24 months (n = 33), and women of childbearing age (n = 92). Thematic and content qualitative analyses were conducted.

Results: Participants expect mHealth to help retrieve patients lost to follow-up, improve maternal care monitoring, and build stronger relationships between pregnant women and primary health centres. Expected benefits are not reducible to a technological realisation (sending messages), but rather point towards a wider network of support. mHealth implementation is expected to present considerable challenges, including technological barriers, organisational challenges, gender issues, confidentiality concerns and unplanned aftereffects. mHealth is also expected to come with intrinsic limitations, to be found as obstacles to maternal care access with which pregnant women are confronted and on which mHealth is not expected to have any significant impact.

Conclusions: mHealth expectations appear as situated knowledges, inseparable from local health-related experiences, practices and constraints. This problematises universalistic approaches to mHealth knowledge, while nevertheless hinting at concrete, expected benefits. Findings from this study will help guide the design and implementation of mHealth initiatives, thus optimising their chances for success.

Keywords: Burkina Faso; Expectations; Global health; Maternal health; Mobile health (mHealth); Situated knowledge.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. World Health Organization . mHealth: New horizons for health through mobile technologies. Geneva: WHO; 2011.
    1. mHealth Alliance . Five Years of Mobilizing for Health Impact: Key Achievements & Future Opportunities. Washington: mHealth Alliance; 2013.
    1. Chib A, van Velthoven MH, Car J. mHealth adoption in low-resource environments: a review of the use of mobile healthcare in developing countries. J Health Commun. 2015;20:4–34. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2013.864735. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Royston G, Hagar C, Long L-A, McMahon D, Pakenham-Walsh N, Wadhwani N. Mobile health-care information for all: a global challenge. Lancet Glob Health. 2015;3:e356–7. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00054-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Piette JD, Lun KC, Moura LA, Jr, Fraser HS, Mechael PN, Powell J, Khoja SR. Impacts of e-health on the outcomes of care in low- and middle-income countries: where do we go from here? Bull World Health Organ. 2012;90:365–72. doi: 10.2471/BLT.11.099069. - DOI - PMC - PubMed