Health care needs, eHealth literacy, use of mobile phone functionalities, and intention to use it for self-management purposes by informal caregivers of children with burns: a survey study

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

Research

Mohammadreza Mobayen¹  Alireza Feizkhah²  Parissa Bagheri Toolaroud³  Ehsan Nabovati³  Fatemeh Rangraz Jeddi³  Joseph Osuji⁴  Hossein Akbari⁵ 

[1] Burn and Regenerative Medicine Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran;Burn and Regenerative Medicine Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran;Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran;Health Information Management Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran;Department of Health Information Management & Technology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran;School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, Community, and Education, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Ab, Canada;Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Research Center, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran;

关键词: Burns;    Informal caregivers;    Literacy;    Needs Assessment;    Mobile Health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12911-023-02334-w

 received in 2022-12-07, accepted in 2023-10-10,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess health care needs, electronic health literacy, mobile phone usage, and intention to use it for self-management purposes by informal caregivers of children with burn injuries.MethodsThis cross-sectional research was carried out in 2021 with 112 informal caregivers of children with burns in a burn center in the north of Iran. The data collection tools were questionnaires that included the participants’ demographics, their E-Health Literacy, their current mobile phone usage, and their desires for mobile phone use for burn care services.ResultsMost informal caregivers had smartphones (83.0%) and Internet access (81.3%). Most participants occasionally used phone calls (63.4%), the Internet (45.5%), and social media (42.9) to receive information about psychosocial disorders, infection control, wound care, pain, itch, physical exercise, and feeding. Most participants have never used some of the mobile phone functionalities to receive burn-related information, such as applications/Software (99.1%) and e-mail (99.1%). Nevertheless, most informal caregivers desire to use mobile applications for self-management purposes in the future (88.4%). The mean eHealth literacy score was 25.01 (SD = 9.61). Informal caregivers who had higher education levels, access to the Internet, and lived in urban areas had higher eHealth literacy (P < 001).ConclusionThe current research delivers beneficial information about the healthcare needs of informal caregivers and their preference to use mobile functionality to receive burns-related healthcare and rehabilitation information post-discharge. This information can help design and implement mobile health (mHealth) interventions to enhance the self-care skills of informal caregivers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

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