Factors affecting adoption of mobile health among healthcare workers in Nigeria.

Abstract

Mobile technology has been shown to play a significant role in the healthcare sector, especially in developing countries, because of their capacity in addressing some of the sector’s difficulties. One of the numerous benefits of m-health is that it is an affordable solution that increases access to health services. Despite the recognised benefits associated with m-health technology, there are concerns about the reasons why its adoption is relatively low in emerging economies. Therefore, this study was undertaken to examine the factors influencing the adoption of m-health from the perspective of healthcare workers and hospital management in Nigeria. The research explored the information and communication technologies available in Nigerian hospitals, and afterwards, the knowledge of healthcare workers on m-health technology and its uses was examined. Next, the individual, technological, organizational and environmental determinants of m-health technology were investigated. The study adopted a positivist standpoint in conducting the research. A survey design was employed for the study, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The population of the study consisted of healthcare workers in Nigeria and the sample was drawn from six healthcare facilities in Lagos State, using stratified random sampling and purposive sampling. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires from 201 healthcare workers, while qualitative data were collected through interviews with three hospital managers. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyse quantitative data, while the qualitative data were analysed with Nvivo software.

The Unified Theory of the Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the Technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) Framework underpin this study. The findings revealed the existence of ICT in all the hospitals surveyed and the common ICT tools used were the internet and mobile phones. Also, the findings showed a relatively good knowledge of m-health among healthcare workers. Lastly, self-efficacy, experience, effort expectancy, government support and external support were found to be factors that influence m-health adoption in Nigeria.The primary recommendation is that, in order to enhance effective service delivery, standard ICT policies that support the integration of mobile device use for the provision of healthcare throughout the country be established.