Abstract

The application of mobile health technology (m-health) to aid in achieving health goals holds the promise of transforming Maternal and Child Health (MNCH) results. Nonetheless, the advantages of m-Health can only be obtained through its uptake. Thus, understanding the knowledge and perceptions of health workers and childbearing women regarding m-health and the factors influencing its adoption may inform the development and execution of mHealth-oriented maternal interventions.

A cross-sectional study conducted in the Buea health district, encompassing community and hospital settings, gathered data on demographic characteristics, knowledge, perception, and willingness to utilize m-health from healthcare respondents using structured questionnaires. Logistic regression was employed to identify factors associated with knowledge, perception, and willingness to adopt m-health.

Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 26. A quarter of the healthcare professionals (24%) and over (13%) of the women demonstrated good knowledge of maternal mobile applications. The favorable perception rate was 78% for healthcare professionals and 96% for childbearing women.

The age group of 20-39 years among health workers and pregnant women, alongside those earning between 101,000-150,000 frs monthly, were linked to knowledge, while the factors correlated with positive perception included gender (female) and good knowledge for healthcare professionals, and age group (20-39) as well as a long duration of phone usage (over 5 years) for the community survey.

Although the findings in this study are encouraging in terms of the positive perception of Health applications, all the end users’ concerns should be considered and intervention designs should be contextualized according to the target population.

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