The Role of Mobile Learning in Supporting Community Health Workers’ Continuous Learning: A Case of Village Health Teams in Patongo and Lokule Sub Counties-Uganda

Abstract

The study assesses the role of Mobile learning in supporting Community Health Workers' continuous learning using a Smartphone application. The Community Health Workers are members of the community commonly known as Village Health Teams in Uganda. This group is presumed not be a priority for training. The aim is to objectify using Mobile learning affordances to support Community Health Workers' training, an activity presently considered to be irregular and underfunded. This is achieved through the implementation of a Mobile App prototype used as a learning tool for digitized training content on the subject of diseases, reproductive health, sanitation, and family wellbeing. The study involved 41 participants categorized as Community Health Workers, community health students, and Community Health Leaders who selectively participated in piloting the mobile application, responded of a survey questionnaire, took an interview and attended a feedback session. The study examined the availability of Smartphone devices, ease of Mobile App use, challenges of the existing approach to training and information delivery, Mobile Application accessibility issues, and anticipated technical challenges. Despite the conspicuous challenges of mobile technology in a rural setting, 97% of the participants indicated that Mobile learning is a favorable alternative to support the training of Community Health Workers, though, only 48% had access to a Smartphone. Attrition of volunteer workers was identified as the primary challenge to the training of Community Health Workers. The identified advantages relate to geographic convenience, cost of training, numerous mobile services, ease of access, update, storage, and sharing of content. However, imminent bottlenecks identified include the availability of Smartphone devices among Community Health Workers, lack of electricity, unreliable networks, and lack of internet data. Notable interventions from stakeholders aiming to mitigate the challenges are highlighted.