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. 2023 Jul 21:17:e469.
doi: 10.1017/dmp.2023.129.

Enhancing a Willingness to Respond to Disasters and Public Health Emergencies Among Health Care Workers, Using mHealth Intervention: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Amber Mehmood  1 , Daniel J Barnett  2 , Bee-Ah Kang  3 , Ume-E-Aiman Chhipa  4 , Nargis Asad  5 , Badar Afzal  6 , Junaid A Razzak  4   7
Affiliations

Enhancing a Willingness to Respond to Disasters and Public Health Emergencies Among Health Care Workers, Using mHealth Intervention: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Amber Mehmood et al. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. .

Abstract

Health care workers (HCWs) are increasingly faced with the continuous threat of confronting acute disasters, extreme weather-related events, and protracted public health emergencies. One of the major factors that determines emergency-department-based HCWs' willingness to respond during public health emergencies and disasters is self-efficacy. Despite increased public awareness of the threat of disasters and heightened possibility of future public health emergencies, the emphasis on preparing the health care workforce for such disasters is inadequate in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). Interventions for boosting self-efficacy and response willingness in public health emergencies and disasters have yet to be implemented or examined among emergency HCWs in LMICs. Mobile health (mHealth) technology seems to be a promising platform for such interventions, especially in a resource-constrained setting. This paper introduces an mHealth-focused project that demonstrates a model of multi-institutional and multidisciplinary collaboration for research and training to enhance disaster response willingness among emergency department workers in Pakistan.

Keywords: Disaster preparedness; healthcare workers; mHealth; self-efficacy; willingness-to-respond.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict(s) of interest. None.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Conceptual overview of mHealth intervention iRise on HCWs’ willingness to respond.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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