TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual and reproductive health mobile apps
T2 - results from a cross-sectional values and preferences survey to inform World Health Organization normative guidance on self-care interventions
AU - Logie, Carmen
AU - Okumu, Moses
AU - Abela, Heather
AU - Wilson, David
AU - Narasimhan, Manjulaa
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the World Health Organization. CHL also receives support for her program of research from Canada Research Chairs, Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. We would like to thank all of the participants and the 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) Guideline Development Group for the Consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for health: sexual and reproductive health and rights. We would particularly like to thank Tigest Tamrat from the World Health Organization.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/12/31
Y1 - 2020/12/31
N2 - Mobile application (app) platforms have the potential to advance sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Yet there is a dearth of knowledge regarding global perspectives from healthcare providers on how SRH mobile apps are being leveraged in their healthcare practice. In 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for SRH. To inform this guideline, we conducted a global values and preferences survey. This study aimed to (a) understand the awareness, access, and uptake of SRH mobile apps; (b) examine how many healthcare provider (HCP) participants provided linkages, referrals and information to clients regarding SRH mobile apps; and (c) among HCP, assess how many felt confident and informed regarding SRH mobile apps. We hosted a cross-sectional web-based survey on the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research website and shared the survey with SRHR listservs. There were 825 survey participants, 360 whom identified as healthcare providers (HCP). Approximately one-third of HCP participants had provided a referral/information to their clients about sexual or reproductive health apps. While 40.8% of HCP felt confident and informed about sexual health apps, half (47.4%) reported needing more information, and 15.6% expressed interest in receiving training to use in practice. While 42.6% of HCPs felt confident and informed about reproductive health apps, 45.7% needed more information, and 15.1% were interested in further training. There was also an open-ended question for HCP to share their thoughts about self-care SRH interventions. Specifically regarding SRH apps, HCP responses revealed the importance of considering: (a) security and confidentiality; (b) potential benefits of SRH apps for underserved groups (i.e. youth, rural communities); (c) community engagement; (d) health benefits; and (e) and online training for HCP on SRH mobile apps. Findings signal interest and opportunities for training and engaging HCP in using mobile apps to advance SRH.
AB - Mobile application (app) platforms have the potential to advance sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Yet there is a dearth of knowledge regarding global perspectives from healthcare providers on how SRH mobile apps are being leveraged in their healthcare practice. In 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for SRH. To inform this guideline, we conducted a global values and preferences survey. This study aimed to (a) understand the awareness, access, and uptake of SRH mobile apps; (b) examine how many healthcare provider (HCP) participants provided linkages, referrals and information to clients regarding SRH mobile apps; and (c) among HCP, assess how many felt confident and informed regarding SRH mobile apps. We hosted a cross-sectional web-based survey on the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research website and shared the survey with SRHR listservs. There were 825 survey participants, 360 whom identified as healthcare providers (HCP). Approximately one-third of HCP participants had provided a referral/information to their clients about sexual or reproductive health apps. While 40.8% of HCP felt confident and informed about sexual health apps, half (47.4%) reported needing more information, and 15.6% expressed interest in receiving training to use in practice. While 42.6% of HCPs felt confident and informed about reproductive health apps, 45.7% needed more information, and 15.1% were interested in further training. There was also an open-ended question for HCP to share their thoughts about self-care SRH interventions. Specifically regarding SRH apps, HCP responses revealed the importance of considering: (a) security and confidentiality; (b) potential benefits of SRH apps for underserved groups (i.e. youth, rural communities); (c) community engagement; (d) health benefits; and (e) and online training for HCP on SRH mobile apps. Findings signal interest and opportunities for training and engaging HCP in using mobile apps to advance SRH.
KW - access
KW - healthcare provider
KW - healthcare training
KW - mHealth
KW - mobile app
KW - reproductive health
KW - Sexual health
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85089333082
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85089333082#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1080/16549716.2020.1796346
DO - 10.1080/16549716.2020.1796346
M3 - Article
C2 - 32778000
AN - SCOPUS:85089333082
SN - 1654-9716
VL - 13
JO - Global Health Action
JF - Global Health Action
IS - 1
M1 - 1796346
ER -