Health workers’ perspectives of a mobile health tool to improve diagnosis and management of paediatric acute respiratory illnesses in Uganda: a qualitative study

Abstract

Objectives Mobile health tools have potential to improve the diagnosis and management of acute lower respiratory illnesses (ALRI), a leading cause of paediatric mortality worldwide. The objectives were to evaluate health workers’ perceptions of acceptability, usability and feasibility of Acute Lower Respiratory Illness Treatment and Evaluation (ALRITE), a novel mobile health tool to help frontline health workers diagnose, treat and provide education about ALRI in children <5 years.Design A qualitative study including semistructured interviews with health facility administrators and focus groups with primary care health workers.Setting Two federally funded Ugandan primary care health facilities, one peri-urban and one rural.Participants We enrolled 3 health administrators and 28 health workers (clinical officers and nurses).Intervention The ALRITE smartphone application was developed to help frontline health workers adhere to ALRI guidelines and differentiate wheezing illnesses from pneumonia in children under 5 years of age. ALRITE contains a simple decision tree, a partially automated respiratory rate counter, educational videos and an adapted respiratory assessment score to determine bronchodilator responsiveness. We performed a demonstration of ALRITE for participants at the beginning of interviews and focus groups. No participant had used ALRITE prior.Results Themes impacting the potential implementation of ALRITE were organised using individual-level, clinic-level and health-system level determinants. Individual-level determinants were acceptability and perceived benefit, usability, provider needs and provider–patient relationship. Clinic-level determinants were limited resources and integration within the health centre. Systems-level determinants included medication shortages and stakeholder engagement.Conclusions Incorporation of these themes will ready ALRITE for field testing. Early engagement of end users provides insights critical to the development of tailored mHealth decision support tools.