Health workers’ knowledge of and attitudes towards computer applications in rural African health facilities
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The QUALMAT (Quality of Maternal and Prenatal Care: Bridging the Know-do Gap) project has introduced an electronic clinical decision support system (CDSS) for pre-natal and maternal care services in rural primary health facilities in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Tanzania. OBJECTIVE: To report an assessment of health providers' computer knowledge, experience, and attitudes prior to the implementation of the QUALMAT electronic CDSS. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted with providers in 24 QUALMAT project sites. Information was collected using structured questionnaires. Chi-squared tests and one-way ANOVA describe the association between computer knowledge, attitudes, and other factors. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted to gain further insights. RESULTS: A total of 108 providers responded, 63% were from Tanzania and 37% from Ghana. The mean age was 37.6 years, and 79% were female. Only 40% had ever used computers, and 29% had prior computer training. About 80% were computer illiterate or beginners. Educational level, age, and years of work experience were significantly associated with computer knowledge (p<0.01). Most (95.3%) had positive attitudes towards computers - average score (±SD) of 37.2 (±4.9). Females had significantly lower scores than males. Interviews and group discussions showed that although most were lacking computer knowledge and experience, they were optimistic about overcoming challenges associated with the introduction of computers in their workplace. CONCLUSIONS: Given the low levels of computer knowledge among rural health workers in Africa, it is important to provide adequate training and support to ensure the successful uptake of electronic CDSSs in these settings. The positive attitudes to computers found in this study underscore that also rural care providers are ready to use such technology.
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The usefulness of the mHealth app for CHWs is centered on the ease of integration into the routine workflow, improved capacity to deliver follow-up services, less paperwork, organization of data, and abolishing the paper-based registers.
“The usefulness of the mHealth app for CHWs is centered on the ease of integration into the routine workflow, improved capacity to deliver follow-up services, less paperwork, organization of data, and abolishing the paper-based registers [30-41].”
From Operability, Usefulness, and Task-Technology Fit of an mHealth App for Delivering Primary Health Care Services by Community Health Workers in Underserved Areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan: Qualitative Study (2020) · cites this paper as [32]
In Results > Health workers’ attitudes towards computer application (page unavailable), providers expected computers to simplify work and help with record keeping and reports. The paper reports expectations before implementation of an electronic clinical decision support system, not observed benefits of a CHW mHealth app. It does not support the claims about routine-workflow integration, follow-up services, less paperwork, or abolishing paper registers. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredGlobal examples revealed high levels of acceptance and willingness to learn despite lack of experience with such tools.
“Global examples revealed high levels of acceptance and willingness to learn despite lack of experience with such tools [31-33].”
Studies conducted with frontline health workers prior to the integration of new technologies into their workflow have revealed high levels of acceptance and willingness to learn, despite the lack of experience with such tools.
“Studies conducted with frontline health workers prior to the integration of new technologies into their workflow have revealed high levels of acceptance and willingness to learn, despite the lack of experience with such tools [64, 68, 69].”
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“This might be because health professionals’ attitudes toward using mobile-based systems have improved over time, and individuals’ sociodemographic characteristics and educational level affect their attitudes which further affect their behavioral intention of technology acceptance [125, 126].”
Background
- Authors
- Sukums, F., Mensah, N., Mpembeni, R., Kaltschmidt, J., Haefeli, W. E., & Blank, A.
- Affiliations
- Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (TZ)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Blank, Antje
- Venue
- Global Health Action
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-10-27
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 24534-24534
- ISSN
- 1654-9716 (ISSN-L)
- 1654-9880
- PMC
- PMC4212075
- OpenAlex
- W2159011937
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 16.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Global Health Action (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › ICT in Developing Communities
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Electronic Health Records Systems
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Digital literacy in education
- Keywords
- attitudes toward computers, rural health facilities, computer literacy, health information technology adoption, gender differences in technology use, primary care
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attitude of Health Personnel, Attitude to Computers, Burkina Faso, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Ghana, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Maternal Health Services, Surveys and Questionnaires, Rural Population, Tanzania, Focus Groups, Rural Health Services, Decision Support Systems, Clinical
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