Abstract
In this article, we first derive design principles for mHealth application development for rural parts of developing countries based on scientific literature and field studies. The design principles are then instantiated in a design science project focused on treating noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in rural parts of Kenya. Designing and implementing mobile health (mHealth) applications is a difficult task, and even more so when done in application domains such as rural parts of developing countries or low-resource communities. The resulting mHealth application assists community health workers (CHWs) in the recording of diabetic and hypertensive patients’ vital measurements. Additionally, in-person disease support communities for the patients and CHWs were formed, enhanced by an SMS-based community messaging feature to assist in increasing health-seeking behavior. The study's contribution is both the development of a functioning mobile application and collaborative socio-technical support community for patients as well as the development and instantiation of design principles for designing mHealth applications for rural parts of developing countries.
Highlights
D ESIGNING and implementing mobile health (mHealth) applications is no easy taskHevner and Chatterjee [1] note that information systems are composed of inherently mutable and adaptable hardware, software, and human interfaces that provide many unique and challenging design problems (DPs) that call for new and creative ideas
Based on the requirements derived throughout the rigor and relevance cycles, we developed four DPs for mHealth application development in rural parts of developing countries
The section summarizes the insights obtained through this Design Science Research (DSR) project and reflects upon the validity of the proposed DPs. This DSR study certainly delivered many insights, but especially due to the context-specificness of the study, a discussion and synthesis of the results obtained must be done to position their value in a greater field of knowledge
Summary
D ESIGNING and implementing mHealth applications is no easy taskHevner and Chatterjee [1] note that information systems are composed of inherently mutable and adaptable hardware, software, and human interfaces that provide many unique and challenging design problems (DPs) that call for new and creative ideas. While DPs exist for mHealth applications that target patients on an individual level (e.g., [7]), such DPs are not tailored to the context of rural parts of developing countries and do not take into account low-resource constraints and existing social structures. Shifting from a highly centralized form of government that had been in place since the country’s independence in 1963, Kenya introduced a devolved/decentralized system of government consisting of a central government and 47 semiautonomous county governments [24] This new structure naturally affected healthcare management and delivery. While the central Kenyan Ministry of Health remains responsible for policymaking and other regulatory matters, county governments are responsible for the allocation and management of healthcare resources and service provision [25] This devolved organizational structure has many contextual and practical implications for healthcare delivery across the counties
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