Midwives’ acceptance of mHealth applications in the dissemination of maternal health education in primary healthcare clinics

Abstract

Health education improves pregnancy outcomes, with mHealth increasing its access; however, barriers to delivering messages exist. The study aimed to describe midwives’ (N = 104) acceptance of mHealth in health educating pregnant women during and between antenatal visits at primary healthcare clinics in a sub-district of eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Yakubu and Dasuki's, self-administered questionnaire consisting of six subscales and based on the UTAUT model, guided the study. The response rate was 88.5% (n = 92). Performance Expectancy was the highest of the six mHealth subscales, showing that midwives were willing to connect pregnant women to mHealth applications and finding them useful. Conversely, Facilitating Conditions, was lowest indicating lesser technical infrastructure to encourage the use of the system. A significant association (p = .016) between age groups and Behavioural Intention was driven by older respondents’ (51 + years.) lower level of intent. Path analysis showed Actual Usage of the mHealth programmes was significantly associated with both Behavioral Intentions and Facilitating Conditions. If pregnant women's maternal health is to be adequately addressed, efficient use is to be made of mHealth programs, and barriers emanating from the senders (midwives), and organizational structures need identification.