Perspectives and experiences of community health workers in Brazilian primary care centers using m-health tools in home visits with community members

Human Resources for Health

Research

Michele Heisler¹  Alexandra Brentani²  Rebecca Grossman-Kahn³  John William Mallett³  Julia Schoen³  Elizabeth Kaselitz⁴ 

[1] Center for Clinical Management Research, Ann Arbor Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Healthcare System, 2800 Plymouth Rd, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America;Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, 1301 Catherine St, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America;Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America;Department of Pediatrics, University of São Paulo Medical School, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 455 - Cerqueira César, 01246-903, São Paulo, SP, Brazil;University of Michigan Medical School, 1301 Catherine St, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America;University of Michigan Medical School, 1301 Catherine St, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America;Center for Clinical Management Research, Ann Arbor Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Healthcare System, 2800 Plymouth Rd, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America;

关键词: Community health workers;    Brazil;    Primary care;    Community health;    m-health;    Qualitative research;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12960-017-0245-9

 received in 2017-03-08, accepted in 2017-09-20,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMobile health (m-health) tools are a promising strategy to facilitate the work of community health workers (CHWs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite their potential value, little is known about CHWs’ experiences working with m-health tools in their outreach activities with community members.MethodsTo understand the benefits of and barriers to using m-health tools for CHWs, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 57 CHWs employed in six primary care centers in São Paulo, Brazil. All CHWs had experience using a cell phone application called Geohealth for collecting health and demographic data of community members. We assessed their experiences using Geohealth and recommendations for improvements.ResultsCHWs described key benefits of using Geohealth as helping them save time with bureaucratic paperwork, organizing the data that they needed to collect, and by replacing sheaves of paper, reducing the weight that they carried in the field. However, there were many technical and social barriers to the successful adoption of the m-health tool. Key among these were poor quality hardware, faulty software programs, and negative community member perceptions of the m-health program. The CHWs provided valuable input as to how Geohealth could be improved to fit their needs.Conclusionm-health tools have the potential to facilitate the work of CHWs in LMICs. However, such tools must be designed and implemented thoughtfully. Technical barriers related to both hardware and software must be anticipated and addressed to maximize their efficiency and successful adoption. CHW input on the design of the tool should be sought to maximize its utility and minimize barriers to use.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017