ACCEPTANCE AND USABILITY OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IN THE DELIVERY OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES IN RURAL PARTS OF MALAWI

This is an abstract from my Msc Thesis:

In this study, acceptance and usability of mobile phones in the delivery of healthcare services among Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) in rural villages of Malawi was investigated using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and principles of Human Computer Interactions to evaluate the perceived usability.


The study was conducted in Zomba district, Mwandama Village, which hosts the Millennium Villages Project. A total of 38 HSAs were interviewed from a population of 44 HSAs and a self reported questionnaire was administered.

Firstly, the results show that HSAs in the study environment have a positive attitude towards the use of mobile phones (mean = 5.02 and standard deviation = 0.901) on a 6 points Likert Scale. Furthermore, the results show that the HSAs attitude was positive irrespective of gender t (36) = 0.806, p < 0.05 and age F (37) = 2.68, p > 0.05. However, the attitude was moderated by level of education F (37) = 4.31, p < 0.05. HSAs with Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) had a lower attitude towards mobile phone technology (mean = 4.60, standard deviation = 0.632) than those with Malawi Schools Certificate of Education (MSCE) with (mean = 5.09, standard deviation = 0.668). Secondly, the results show that HSAs perceived overall usability of the mobile phones in support of healthcare services delivery was positive (mean= 4.33, standard deviation = 0.644). The usability was positive irrespective of gender t (36) = -0.896, p < 0.05 and age F (37) = 0.012, p > 0.05, or level of education F (37) = 2.72, p > 0.05. Finally, the results showed that there was a weak and negative relationship between mobile phone technology acceptance and usability among HSAs. However, this relationship was statistically significant R (37) = -0.127, p > 0.05. The study was however limited to HSAs who had received mobile phones and were residing in the rural villages under study. It will be interesting to assess the actual use of the mobile phones and further understand the issues flagged out in this study using qualitative research. Furthermore, there is need for a multivariate study to account for confounding factors in assessing the relationship between acceptance and usability.