Open AccessExperiences of midwives and community health workers using mHealth to improve services to pregnant women in rural Burkina Faso, Africa
Author(s) -
Antonia Arnaert,
Norma Ponzoni,
Zoumanan Debe,
Mouoboum Marc Meda,
Noufou Gustave Nana,
Stijn Arnaert
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of nursing education and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1925-4059
pISSN - 1925-4040
DOI - 10.5430/jnep.v10n3p57
Subject(s) - mhealth , nursing , qualitative research , community health workers , work (physics) , health care , the internet , business , medicine , health services , environmental health , political science , sociology , psychological intervention , population , engineering , mechanical engineering , social science , world wide web , law , computer science
Objective: This qualitative, descriptive study explored the experiences of midwives and community health workers (CHWs) using mhealth to improve the care provided to pregnant women living in the rural Diapangou region of Burkina Faso, Africa.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 CHWs and 4 community health center staff. Transcripts were content analyzed.Results: Despite internet connectivity challenges all participants agreed that mhealth allowed them to provide better maternal care. The service enhanced their practice collectively, through facilitating better follow-up care, promoting communication and collaboration, and facilitated management while simplifying administrative tasks. From a managerial perspective, having access to productivity information allowed for effective oversight and supervision of work-related activities. CHWs perceived additional work responsibilities and an opportunity for growth; however, both CHWs and staff recognized that the exposure to technology allowed them to achieve mastery of basic computer skills.Conclusions: The ‘digital divide’ remains a challenge in low resource settings, thus while findings are promising, Burkina Faso will have to wait to reap the full benefits of digital technology until a supportive infrastructure can be put in place.