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1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

BACKGROUND: mHealth (mobile health) is a promising tool to deliver healthcare interventions to underserved populations. Across low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), the prevalence of smartphones has risen to 42%. Effective mHealth deployment in LMIC requires an understanding of how LMIC populatio...

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Autores principales: Campbell, Breanna R, Choi, Koeun, Gray, Megan, Canan, Chelsea, Moll, Anthony, Dillingham, Rebecca, Shenoi, Sheela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6810393/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1521
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author Campbell, Breanna R
Choi, Koeun
Gray, Megan
Canan, Chelsea
Moll, Anthony
Dillingham, Rebecca
Shenoi, Sheela
author_facet Campbell, Breanna R
Choi, Koeun
Gray, Megan
Canan, Chelsea
Moll, Anthony
Dillingham, Rebecca
Shenoi, Sheela
author_sort Campbell, Breanna R
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: mHealth (mobile health) is a promising tool to deliver healthcare interventions to underserved populations. Across low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), the prevalence of smartphones has risen to 42%. Effective mHealth deployment in LMIC requires an understanding of how LMIC populations use mobile technology. We characterized the use of mobile devices in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to tailor mHealth interventions for people living with HIV and at risk for acquiring HIV. METHODS: We surveyed participants in community settings and offered free HIV counseling and testing. Participants self-reported their gender, age, relationship status, living distance from preferred clinic, receipt of monthly grant, condomless sex frequency, and circumcision status (if male). Outcomes included cell phone and smartphone ownership, private data access, health information seeking, and willingness to receive healthcare messages. We performed multivariable logistic regression to assess the relationship between demographic factors and outcomes. RESULTS: Among 788 individuals surveyed, the median age was 28 (IQR 22–40) years, 75% were male, and 86% owned personal cell phones, of which 43% were smartphones. The majority (59%) reported having condomless sex and most (59%) males reported being circumcised. Although only 10% used the phone to seek health information, 93% of cell phone owners were willing to receive healthcare messages. Being young, female, and in a relationship were associated with cell phone ownership. Smartphone owners were more likely to be young and female, less likely to live 10–30 minutes from preferred clinic, and less likely to receive a monthly grant. Those reporting condomless sex or lack of circumcision were significantly less likely to have private data access. CONCLUSION: Most participants were willing to receive healthcare messages via phone, indicating that mHealth interventions may be feasible in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Smartphone-based mHealth interventions specifically geared to prevent or support the care of HIV in young women in KwaZulu-Natal may be feasible. mHealth interventions encouraging condom use and medical male circumcision should consider the use of non-smartphone SMS and be attuned to mobile data limitations. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.
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spelling pubmed-68103932019-10-28 1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Campbell, Breanna R Choi, Koeun Gray, Megan Canan, Chelsea Moll, Anthony Dillingham, Rebecca Shenoi, Sheela Open Forum Infect Dis Abstracts BACKGROUND: mHealth (mobile health) is a promising tool to deliver healthcare interventions to underserved populations. Across low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), the prevalence of smartphones has risen to 42%. Effective mHealth deployment in LMIC requires an understanding of how LMIC populations use mobile technology. We characterized the use of mobile devices in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to tailor mHealth interventions for people living with HIV and at risk for acquiring HIV. METHODS: We surveyed participants in community settings and offered free HIV counseling and testing. Participants self-reported their gender, age, relationship status, living distance from preferred clinic, receipt of monthly grant, condomless sex frequency, and circumcision status (if male). Outcomes included cell phone and smartphone ownership, private data access, health information seeking, and willingness to receive healthcare messages. We performed multivariable logistic regression to assess the relationship between demographic factors and outcomes. RESULTS: Among 788 individuals surveyed, the median age was 28 (IQR 22–40) years, 75% were male, and 86% owned personal cell phones, of which 43% were smartphones. The majority (59%) reported having condomless sex and most (59%) males reported being circumcised. Although only 10% used the phone to seek health information, 93% of cell phone owners were willing to receive healthcare messages. Being young, female, and in a relationship were associated with cell phone ownership. Smartphone owners were more likely to be young and female, less likely to live 10–30 minutes from preferred clinic, and less likely to receive a monthly grant. Those reporting condomless sex or lack of circumcision were significantly less likely to have private data access. CONCLUSION: Most participants were willing to receive healthcare messages via phone, indicating that mHealth interventions may be feasible in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Smartphone-based mHealth interventions specifically geared to prevent or support the care of HIV in young women in KwaZulu-Natal may be feasible. mHealth interventions encouraging condom use and medical male circumcision should consider the use of non-smartphone SMS and be attuned to mobile data limitations. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures. Oxford University Press 2019-10-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6810393/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1521 Text en © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Abstracts
Campbell, Breanna R
Choi, Koeun
Gray, Megan
Canan, Chelsea
Moll, Anthony
Dillingham, Rebecca
Shenoi, Sheela
1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title 1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_full 1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_fullStr 1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed 1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_short 1657. Notes From the Field: A Survey of Mobile Device Usage Among Individuals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_sort 1657. notes from the field: a survey of mobile device usage among individuals in kwazulu-natal, south africa
topic Abstracts
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6810393/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1521
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