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Health Research Policy and Systems
Published in: Health Research Policy and Systems 1/2017

Open Access 01-07-2017 | Research

Situating mobile health: a qualitative study of mHealth expectations in the rural health district of Nouna, Burkina Faso

Authors: Vincent Duclos, Maurice Yé, Kagoné Moubassira, Hamidou Sanou, N. Hélène Sawadogo, Gilles Bibeau, Ali Sié

Published in: Health Research Policy and Systems | Special Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

The implementation of mobile health (mHealth) projects in low- and middle-income countries raises high and well-documented expectations among development agencies, policymakers and researchers. By contrast, the expectations of direct and indirect mHealth users are not often examined. In preparation for a proposed intervention in the Nouna Health District, in rural Burkina Faso, this study investigates the expected benefits, challenges and limitations associated with mHealth, approaching these expectations as a form of situated knowledge, inseparable from local conditions, practices and experiences.

Methods

The study was conducted within the Nouna Health District. We used a qualitative approach, and conducted individual semi-structured interviews and group interviews (n = 10). Participants included healthcare workers (n = 19), godmothers (n = 24), pregnant women (n = 19), women with children aged 12–24 months (n = 33), and women of childbearing age (n = 92). Thematic and content qualitative analyses were conducted.

Results

Participants expect mHealth to help retrieve patients lost to follow-up, improve maternal care monitoring, and build stronger relationships between pregnant women and primary health centres. Expected benefits are not reducible to a technological realisation (sending messages), but rather point towards a wider network of support. mHealth implementation is expected to present considerable challenges, including technological barriers, organisational challenges, gender issues, confidentiality concerns and unplanned aftereffects. mHealth is also expected to come with intrinsic limitations, to be found as obstacles to maternal care access with which pregnant women are confronted and on which mHealth is not expected to have any significant impact.

Conclusions

mHealth expectations appear as situated knowledges, inseparable from local health-related experiences, practices and constraints. This problematises universalistic approaches to mHealth knowledge, while nevertheless hinting at concrete, expected benefits. Findings from this study will help guide the design and implementation of mHealth initiatives, thus optimising their chances for success.
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Metadata
Title
Situating mobile health: a qualitative study of mHealth expectations in the rural health district of Nouna, Burkina Faso
Authors
Vincent Duclos
Maurice Yé
Kagoné Moubassira
Hamidou Sanou
N. Hélène Sawadogo
Gilles Bibeau
Ali Sié
Publication date
01-07-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Health Research Policy and Systems / Issue Special Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1478-4505
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-017-0211-y

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