Knowledge, Attitude and Willingness to Use mHealth Technology among Doctors at a Semi Urban Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Abstract

Context: Mobile Health technology emerged as an innovative and important Information Communication Technology tool with which to impact health for all. Aims: This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and willingness to use mHealth technology in medical management and patient follow-up by doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti. Settings and Design: Descriptive cross sectional questionnaire based study. Methods and Materials: Proportionate sampling was used to select 220 doctors; data were obtained with a self-administered questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from LUTH HREC. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 21. Results: The mean age was 35.2 ± 7.3 years with a Male: Female ratio of 2.39:1. Knowledge of mHealth technology was high, with a mean score of 94.31 ± 11.26, majority of respondents (97.6%) had positive attitude. A weak association was observed between respondents’ attitude and the statistically significant variables with multiple correlation coefficient of determination of 0.022. Although 80% of respondents were willing to use mHealth, just about half were willing to expand the use of mHealth in bridging the digital divide even with higher fee charges. There was a significant association between the years of experience and willingness to use mHealth (p=0.049). Conclusions: Although knowledge was high and attitude of respondents’ positive, willingness to expand mHealth use was low. There is therefore a need to expand mHealth coverage in Nigeria.