Abstract
Introduction:The use of mobile phones and other technology for improving health through research and practice is growing quickly, in particular in areas with difficult-to-reach population or where the research infrastructure is less developed. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there appears to be a dramatic increase in mobile phone ownership and new initiatives that capitalize on this technology to support health promotion campaigns to change behavior and to increase health literacy. However, the extent to which difficult-to-reach youth in the slums of Kampala may own and use mobile phones has not been reported despite the burden of injuries, substance use, and HIV that they face. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of mobile phone ownership and use in this high-risk population and to identify psychosocial characteristics that may differentiate those owning and using a phone from those who do not.Methods:We conducted secondary analyses of the Kampala Youth Survey (N=457). Data collection took place in 2011, and the survey was designed to quantify high-risk behaviors in a convenience sample of urban youth living on the streets or in the slums, 14–24 years of age, who were participating in a Uganda Youth Development Link drop-in center for disadvantaged street youth. We computed chi-square analyses to determine any significant differences in psychosocial characteristics based on phone ownership and use.Results:Overall, 46.9% of youth reported owning a mobile phone and ownership did not vary by sex but was more common among youth older than 18 years of age. Mobile phone ownership was also more common among those who reported taking care of themselves at night, who reported current drug use and who reported trading sex for money, food or other things.Conclusion:Given that nearly half of the youth own and use phones daily, new research is needed to determine next steps for mobile health (mhealth), including the feasibility of using mobile phones for data collection and interventions with this hard-to-reach population. Moreover, this technology may also be suitable for injury-specific research given that there were few differences with respect to injury-related variables in mobile phone ownership and usage.
Highlights
The use of mobile phones and other technology for improving health through research and practice is growing quickly, in particular in areas with difficult-to-reach population or where the research infrastructure is less developed
Given that nearly half of the youth own and use phones daily, new research is needed to determine steps for mobile health, including the feasibility of using mobile phones for data collection and interventions with this hard-to-reach population. This technology may be suitable for injury-specific research given that there were few differences with respect to injuryrelated variables in mobile phone ownership and usage. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(5):600–603.]
While research demonstrates that many population groups in Uganda have access to mobile phones, the extent to which these findings extend to poor youth who live in the slums of Kampala is not known
Summary
The use of mobile phones and other technology for improving health through research and practice is growing quickly, in particular in areas with difficult-to-reach population or where the research infrastructure is less developed. Mhealth, is a new emerging field of the ‘‘use of mobile information and communication technologies for improving health.’’1 mhealth includes using mobile technologies, which are any device or application that has cellular or wireless capabilities.[2] Mhealth is used in many areas directly or indirectly related to health (e.g., education and awareness, service care centers, patient monitoring, disease outbreaks and surveillance, emergency medical response, health information system, distance learning education, and health financing).[3] It is used in the creation and adaptation of health interventions to individuals.[4] The use of mhealth is rapidly emerging in developing countries.[5] A United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation collaborative report found that mobile phones usage in developing countries is the mostly widely used technology in health infrastructures.[5]. In Uganda alone in 2009, there were about 9.5 million mobile phone subscribers.[8]
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