TY - GEN
T1 - A systematic review of mobile health technology use in developing countries
AU - Alghamdi, Manal
AU - Gashgari, Horeya
AU - Househ, Mowafa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - In developing countries, patients are now more informed about their healthcare options as a result of their use of mobile health (mHealth) technologies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the opportunities and challenges in using mHealth technologies for developing countries. In April 2015, Google Scholar and PubMed were searched to identify articles discussing the types, advantages and disadvantages, effectiveness, evaluation of mHealth technologies, and examples of mHealth implementation in developing countries. A total number of 3,803 articles were retrieved from both databases. Articles reporting the benefits and risks, effectiveness, and evaluation of mHealth were included. Articles that were written in English and from developing countries were also included. We excluded papers that were published before 2005, not written in English, and that were technical in nature. After screening the articles using the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 27 articles were selected for inclusion in the study. Of the 27 papers included in the review, eight described opportunities and challenges relating to mHealth, four focused on smoking cessation, three focused on weight loss, and four papers focused on chronic diseases. We also identified four articles discussing mHealth evaluation and four discussing the use of mHealth as a health promotion tool. We conclude that mHealth can improve healthcare delivery for developing countries. Some of the advantages of mHealth include: patient education, health promotion, disease self-management, decrease in healthcare costs, and remote monitoring of patients. However, there are several limitations in using mHealth technologies for developing countries, which include: interoperability, lack of evaluation standards, and lack of a technology infrastructure.
AB - In developing countries, patients are now more informed about their healthcare options as a result of their use of mobile health (mHealth) technologies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the opportunities and challenges in using mHealth technologies for developing countries. In April 2015, Google Scholar and PubMed were searched to identify articles discussing the types, advantages and disadvantages, effectiveness, evaluation of mHealth technologies, and examples of mHealth implementation in developing countries. A total number of 3,803 articles were retrieved from both databases. Articles reporting the benefits and risks, effectiveness, and evaluation of mHealth were included. Articles that were written in English and from developing countries were also included. We excluded papers that were published before 2005, not written in English, and that were technical in nature. After screening the articles using the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 27 articles were selected for inclusion in the study. Of the 27 papers included in the review, eight described opportunities and challenges relating to mHealth, four focused on smoking cessation, three focused on weight loss, and four papers focused on chronic diseases. We also identified four articles discussing mHealth evaluation and four discussing the use of mHealth as a health promotion tool. We conclude that mHealth can improve healthcare delivery for developing countries. Some of the advantages of mHealth include: patient education, health promotion, disease self-management, decrease in healthcare costs, and remote monitoring of patients. However, there are several limitations in using mHealth technologies for developing countries, which include: interoperability, lack of evaluation standards, and lack of a technology infrastructure.
KW - Developing countries
KW - Systematic review
KW - mHealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84951933784&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/978-1-61499-538-8-223
DO - 10.3233/978-1-61499-538-8-223
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 26152999
AN - SCOPUS:84951933784
T3 - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
SP - 223
EP - 226
BT - Enabling Health Informatics Applications
A2 - Mantas, John
A2 - Househ, Mowafa S.
A2 - Hasman, Arie
PB - IOS Press
T2 - 13th International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare, ICIMTH 2015
Y2 - 9 July 2015 through 11 July 2015
ER -