Designing Equitable and Inclusive mHealth Technology: Insights from Global South Healthcare Practitioners

IF 1.6 2区文学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Pub Date : 2024-03-10 DOI:10.1109/TPC.2024.3387179

Keshab Raj Acharya

{"title":"Designing Equitable and Inclusive mHealth Technology: Insights from Global South Healthcare Practitioners","authors":"Keshab Raj Acharya","doi":"10.1109/TPC.2024.3387179","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<bold>Introduction:\n Recently, the exponential rise of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) has drawn the attention of healthcare practitioners worldwide. This case study investigates Nepalese healthcare practitioners’ perceptions and use of mHealth tools designed in the Global North (GN). The study also explores strategies for fostering inclusivity and accessibility of these tools within Global South (GS) healthcare settings. \n<bold>About the case:\n Healthcare practitioners in Nepal widely use GN mHealth apps, such as Medscape, for diverse purposes, including aiding health-related decisions and accessing pharmaceutical and disease information. Apps like Medscape offer valuable information on diseases, conditions, and medical procedures, proving highly beneficial for treating patients in critical care situations in GS countries like Nepal. \n<bold>Situating the case:\n mHealth apps have significantly transformed healthcare delivery in resource-limited, low-income GS countries such as Nepal, enhancing accessibility and efficiency in medical services. However, research in the technical and professional communication (TPC) field regarding how GS healthcare practitioners perceive and interact with emerging digital health technologies within resource-constrained healthcare contexts is scarce. \n<bold>Methods:\n To gather data, 12 Nepalese healthcare practitioners were interviewed about their perception and use of GN mHealth apps, with a particular focus on Medscape. \n<bold>Results:\n In addition to the potential benefits of using the case app, participants indicated the need for designing culturally sensitive and context-appropriate mHealth technology. Moreover, results suggest that GN mHealth tools should be tailored to the diverse needs of underserved and underrepresented GS users to promote inclusivity and self-efficacy. \n<bold>Conclusion:\n Adopting justice-oriented localized user-experience design approaches that value diversity, equity, and social justice can help build a more inclusive form of health communication.","PeriodicalId":46950,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication","volume":"67 2","pages":"229-245"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10529121/","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction: Recently, the exponential rise of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) has drawn the attention of healthcare practitioners worldwide. This case study investigates Nepalese healthcare practitioners’ perceptions and use of mHealth tools designed in the Global North (GN). The study also explores strategies for fostering inclusivity and accessibility of these tools within Global South (GS) healthcare settings. About the case: Healthcare practitioners in Nepal widely use GN mHealth apps, such as Medscape, for diverse purposes, including aiding health-related decisions and accessing pharmaceutical and disease information. Apps like Medscape offer valuable information on diseases, conditions, and medical procedures, proving highly beneficial for treating patients in critical care situations in GS countries like Nepal. Situating the case: mHealth apps have significantly transformed healthcare delivery in resource-limited, low-income GS countries such as Nepal, enhancing accessibility and efficiency in medical services. However, research in the technical and professional communication (TPC) field regarding how GS healthcare practitioners perceive and interact with emerging digital health technologies within resource-constrained healthcare contexts is scarce. Methods: To gather data, 12 Nepalese healthcare practitioners were interviewed about their perception and use of GN mHealth apps, with a particular focus on Medscape. Results: In addition to the potential benefits of using the case app, participants indicated the need for designing culturally sensitive and context-appropriate mHealth technology. Moreover, results suggest that GN mHealth tools should be tailored to the diverse needs of underserved and underrepresented GS users to promote inclusivity and self-efficacy. Conclusion: Adopting justice-oriented localized user-experience design approaches that value diversity, equity, and social justice can help build a more inclusive form of health communication.

查看原文本刊更多论文

设计公平、包容的移动医疗技术：全球南部医疗保健从业人员的见解

简介最近，移动医疗应用程序（mHealth apps）的迅速崛起引起了全球医疗从业人员的关注。本案例研究调查了尼泊尔医疗从业人员对全球北方（GN）设计的移动医疗工具的看法和使用情况。研究还探讨了在全球南方（GS）医疗环境中促进这些工具的包容性和可及性的策略。关于案例：尼泊尔的医疗从业人员广泛使用全球北方移动医疗应用程序（如 Medscape），目的多种多样，包括帮助做出与健康相关的决定以及获取药品和疾病信息。Medscape等应用程序提供了有关疾病、病情和医疗程序的宝贵信息，对尼泊尔等医疗服务大国的危重病人治疗大有裨益。案例分析：移动医疗应用程序极大地改变了尼泊尔等资源有限的低收入 GS 国家的医疗服务，提高了医疗服务的可及性和效率。然而，技术与专业交流（TPC）领域关于全球卫生保健从业人员如何在资源有限的卫生保健环境中感知新兴数字卫生技术并与之互动的研究却很少。研究方法为了收集数据，我们采访了 12 名尼泊尔医疗从业人员，了解他们对 GN 移动医疗应用程序的看法和使用情况，其中特别关注 Medscape。结果除了使用病例应用程序的潜在益处外，参与者还表示需要设计具有文化敏感性且适合具体情况的移动医疗技术。此外，研究结果表明，GN 移动医疗工具应根据服务不足和代表性不足的 GS 用户的不同需求量身定制，以提高包容性和自我效能。结论采用以正义为导向的本地化用户体验设计方法，重视多样性、公平和社会正义，有助于建立更具包容性的健康传播形式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

11.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： The IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to applied research on professional communication—including but not limited to technical and business communication. Papers should address the research interests and needs of technical communicators, engineers, scientists, information designers, editors, linguists, translators, managers, business professionals, and others from around the globe who practice, conduct research on, and teach others about effective professional communication. The Transactions publishes original, empirical research that addresses one of these contexts: The communication practices of technical professionals, such as engineers and scientists The practices of professional communicators who work in technical or business environments Evidence-based methods for teaching and practicing professional and technical communication.