scholarly journals The Characteristics and Quality of Mobile Phone Apps Targeted at Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: A Window of Opportunity for Health Information Dissemination?

10.2196/12573 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. e12573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoli Yang ◽  
Jian Long ◽  
Dan Luo ◽  
Shuiyuan Xiao ◽  
Atipatsa Chiwanda Kaminga
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Window Of Opportunity ◽  
Sex With Men

scholarly journals The Characteristics and Quality of Mobile Phone Apps Targeted at Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: A Window of Opportunity for Health Information Dissemination? (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoli Yang ◽  
Jian Long ◽  
Dan Luo ◽  
Shuiyuan Xiao ◽  
Atipatsa Chiwanda Kaminga
Keyword(s):  
Hiv Prevention ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Interrater Reliability ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Hiv Test ◽  
Android Market ◽  
Sex With Men

BACKGROUND A number of mobile phone apps has been developed specifically for men who have sex with men (MSM). We will call these mobile phone apps MSM apps for simplicity. At present, the characteristics and quality and purpose of these MSM apps are unclear. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to objectively and comprehensively evaluate the characteristics and quality of the MSM apps to assess whether they disseminated health information among the MSM in China. METHODS We searched 2 dominant mobile phone app stores (Apple Store and Android Market) to obtain MSM apps using the keywords MSM, gay, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), 男同，同志，男男性接触者，同性恋，基友, and 双性恋. Apps were excluded if they did not have a Chinese language interface or if their target population was not MSM. Basic information about the eligible apps for this study, such as app name, app store category, and date of last update was gathered from the specified app stores. The quality of apps was rated by 2 independent raters using Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between raters was computed as a measure for interrater reliability of the MARS. All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS Inc). RESULTS A total of 575 apps were reviewed between September 15, 2018 and September 30, 2018, out of which, 532 apps were excluded. Finally, 43 apps were included. Of the 43 apps, 16 were from the Apple Store, 10 were from Android Market, and 17 were available in both app stores. In addition, 39 out of 43 apps were for social and sexual networking, whereas 10 contained sexual health information, for example, HIV/sexually transmitted diseases knowledge, HIV test, and condom use. The average rating was 4 stars. The number of downloads for 21 apps exceeded 10,000. A total of 31 apps had acceptable quality (as defined by a MARS score of >3), with functionality as the highest scoring domain, followed by information quality, esthetics, and engagement. Interrater reliability was excellent for the overall mean app quality scores (ICC=.946; 95% CI 0.904-0.970) and the subjective quality scores (ICC=.910; 95% CI 0.841-0.950). CONCLUSIONS By reviewing the available apps, we found that MSM apps are popular. The majority of MSM apps are for dating, whereas few of them contain HIV prevention and health information. The overall quality of the apps is acceptable. The utilization of mobile phone technologies is a promising way for delivering HIV prevention messages to MSM. We recommend that researchers and app developers should work together to disseminate health information for MSM via mobile technologies.

Mobile Health in Uganda: A Case Study of the Medical Concierge Group

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Louis H. Kamulegeya ◽  
Joseph Ssebwana ◽  
Wilson Abigaba ◽  
John M. Bwanika ◽  
Davis Musinguzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Health Content

  The ubiquity of mobile phones offers an opportunity for a paradigm change in health-care delivery, which may offer solutions to some of the challenges faced by the health sector in Uganda. The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG) is a digital health company, headquartered in Uganda, which leverages on mobile phone-based platforms – such as short messaging service (SMS), voice calling – and social media to deliver health services. Just over two-thirds (68%) of users of TMCG’s services are males between 18 and 30 years of age. SMS reminders have improved the honouring of health facility appointments among HIV-positive clients, from 60% to 90%; retention rates at supported health facilities have improved from 45% to 89%. Furthermore, information dissemination has been achieved via mobile SMS, wherein subscribers can access health content on diverse topics – such as HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning – by sending messages to a pre-defined short code to a phone line. Over 900 beneficiaries have accessed health content via SMS subscriptions. Social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, are used for health information dissemination and have enabled a wider reach to over 13 million beneficiaries accessing health information on TMCG’s Facebook page alone. Tailoring mobile phone-based health content to meet the target beneficiaries’ needs is critical for TMCG’s impact and uptake. With rising rates of phone ownership and Internet connectivity in Uganda, mobile phones offer an affordable and proven adoptable avenue to overcome the chronic challenges faced by the health sector.

scholarly journals Mobile Health in Uganda: A Case Study of the Medical Concierge Group

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Louis H. Kamulegeya ◽  
Joseph Ssebwana ◽  
Wilson Abigaba ◽  
John M. Bwanika ◽  
Davis Musinguzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Health Content

  The ubiquity of mobile phones offers an opportunity for a paradigm change in health-care delivery, which may offer solutions to some of the challenges faced by the health sector in Uganda. The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG) is a digital health company, headquartered in Uganda, which leverages on mobile phone-based platforms – such as short messaging service (SMS), voice calling – and social media to deliver health services. Just over two-thirds (68%) of users of TMCG’s services are males between 18 and 30 years of age. SMS reminders have improved the honouring of health facility appointments among HIV-positive clients, from 60% to 90%; retention rates at supported health facilities have improved from 45% to 89%. Furthermore, information dissemination has been achieved via mobile SMS, wherein subscribers can access health content on diverse topics – such as HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning – by sending messages to a pre-defined short code to a phone line. Over 900 beneficiaries have accessed health content via SMS subscriptions. Social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, are used for health information dissemination and have enabled a wider reach to over 13 million beneficiaries accessing health information on TMCG’s Facebook page alone. Tailoring mobile phone-based health content to meet the target beneficiaries’ needs is critical for TMCG’s impact and uptake. With rising rates of phone ownership and Internet connectivity in Uganda, mobile phones offer an affordable and proven adoptable avenue to overcome the chronic challenges faced by the health sector.

Mobile Health in Uganda: A Case Study of the Medical Concierge Group

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Louis H. Kamulegeya ◽  
Joseph Ssebwana ◽  
Wilson Abigaba ◽  
John M. Bwanika ◽  
Davis Musinguzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Health Content

  The ubiquity of mobile phones offers an opportunity for a paradigm change in health-care delivery, which may offer solutions to some of the challenges faced by the health sector in Uganda. The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG) is a digital health company, headquartered in Uganda, which leverages on mobile phone-based platforms – such as short messaging service (SMS), voice calling – and social media to deliver health services. Just over two-thirds (68%) of users of TMCG’s services are males between 18 and 30 years of age. SMS reminders have improved the honouring of health facility appointments among HIV-positive clients, from 60% to 90%; retention rates at supported health facilities have improved from 45% to 89%. Furthermore, information dissemination has been achieved via mobile SMS, wherein subscribers can access health content on diverse topics – such as HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning – by sending messages to a pre-defined short code to a phone line. Over 900 beneficiaries have accessed health content via SMS subscriptions. Social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, are used for health information dissemination and have enabled a wider reach to over 13 million beneficiaries accessing health information on TMCG’s Facebook page alone. Tailoring mobile phone-based health content to meet the target beneficiaries’ needs is critical for TMCG’s impact and uptake. With rising rates of phone ownership and Internet connectivity in Uganda, mobile phones offer an affordable and proven adoptable avenue to overcome the chronic challenges faced by the health sector.

Quality of Novel coronavirus related health information over the Internet: An evaluation study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Joshi ◽  
Fnu Kajal ◽  
Priya Sharma ◽  
Ashruti Bhatt ◽  
Kanishk Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Kappa Statistics ◽  
Quality Of Information ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

BACKGROUND A Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was declared a pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020. The 2019 n-CoV is a virus that is known to belong to a large family of coronaviruses which have affected the human kind in the past also like; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV. As of today, April 12 2020, there are 1.78 million total Coronavirus Cases, 108,880 deaths and 404,581 recovered cases. Public health experts worry that the spread of COVID-19 could be worsened by misinformation. It is important to analyze the information available on the internet in regard to COVID-19. OBJECTIVE To evaluate quality of COVID-19 related health information over the internet using DISCERN tool. METHODS 100 URLs were generated by search engine Google in March 2020 by selecting the first 20 websites that appeared in the results of various keyword search. The keywords used in this search included “Coronavirus”, “Coronavirus causes”, “Coronavirus diagnosis”, “Coronavirus prevention” and “Coronavirus management”. The 16 item DISCERN tool was used to evaluate the quality of COVID-19 related information available on internet. Inter-rater reliability agreement was calculated using kappa statistics. RESULTS Results showed variation in how the raters assigned scores to different website categories. The lowest scores were received by .com websites. Results showed that .edu and .org, website category sites were excellent in communicating novel coronavirus related health information; however, they received lower scores for treatment effect and treatment choices. CONCLUSIONS The critical gaps in the available quality of information were assessed in context to COVID-19 and help us to evaluate the quality of information available and can guide the users to choose between various websites. If inaccurate information is being spread, that site should be closed down or some regulatory provisions should also be framed in this regard. One recommendation could be that websites, once ranked with trust marks, can be popularized to public for better information dissemination.

scholarly journals Dissemination of Health Information through Community Empowerment

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Saleha Rodiah ◽  
Agung Budiono ◽  
Neneng Komariah
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Dissemination Process ◽  
Strategic Study ◽  
The Village

The process of information dissemination is a strategic study in information and communication science since a successful information dissemination process will enable to provide significant multiplying effects. This research aimed to identify community empowerment activities in the dissemination of health information to improve the quality of public health in Margajaya village, Ngamprah, West Bandung Regency. The study used a qualitative case study method, by collecting data through observation, unstructured interviews, and literature review. The dissemination of health information used an education strategy in its activities, namely the behavior change through means of education or health promotion, which are efforts or processes to foster awareness, willingness and ability to maintain and improve health. There was involvement of community empowerment agents who received training from relevant agencies, joined voluntarily and committed to participate in health development. The ex-tattoo community is a community that engages in the dissemination of health information. In addition to disposing of its negative image in the village, the community seeks to become a part of empowerment in improving the quality of public health.

Quality Assessment of Health Information about Scaphoid Fracture in Chinese Websites (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaobin Yin ◽  
Jianguang Ji ◽  
Peng Lu ◽  
Wenyao Zhong ◽  
Liying Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Scaphoid Fracture ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
The Mean

BACKGROUND With online health information becoming increasingly popular among patients and their family members, concerns have been raised about the accuracy from the websites. OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate the overall quality of the online information about scaphoid fracture obtained from Chinese websites using the local search engines. METHODS We conducted an online search using the keyword “scaphoid fracture” from the top 5 search engines in China, i.e. Baidu, Shenma, Haosou, Sougou and Bing, and gathered the top ranked websites, which included a total of 120 websites. Among them, 81 websites were kept for further analyses by removing duplicated and unrelated one as well as websites requiring payment. These websites were classified into four categories, including forum/social networks, commercials, academics and physician’s personals. Health information evaluation tool DISCERN and Scaphoid Fracture Specific Content Score (SFSCS) were used to assess the quality of the websites. RESULTS Among the 81 Chinese websites that we studied, commercial websites were the most common one accounting more than half of all websites. The mean DISCERN score of the 81 websites was 25.56 and no website had a score A (ranging from 64 to 80).The mean SFSCS score was 10.04 and no website had a score A (range between 24 and 30). In addition, DISCERN and SFSCS scores from academic and physician’s websites were significantly higher than those from the forum/social networks and commercials. CONCLUSIONS The overall quality of health information obtained from Chinese websites about scaphoid fracture was very low, suggesting that patients and their family members should be aware such deficiency and pay special attentions for the medical information obtained by using the current search engines in China.

A new tool for assessing the quality of online health information on the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Dobbins ◽  
Susannah Watson ◽  
Kristin Read ◽  
Kelly Graham ◽  
Reza Yousefi Nooraie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Optimal Aging

scholarly journals Using the Google™ Search Engine for Health Information: Is There a Problem? Case Study: Supplements for Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah C Cai ◽  
Leanne E King ◽  
Johanna T Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Nutrition Information ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Quality Rating

ABSTRACT We assessed the quality of online health and nutrition information using a Google™ search on “supplements for cancer”. Search results were scored using the Health Information Quality Index (HIQI), a quality-rating tool consisting of 12 objective criteria related to website domain, lack of commercial aspects, and authoritative nature of the health and nutrition information provided. Possible scores ranged from 0 (lowest) to 12 (“perfect” or highest quality). After eliminating irrelevant results, the remaining 160 search results had median and mean scores of 8. One-quarter of the results were of high quality (score of 10–12). There was no correlation between high-quality scores and early appearance in the sequence of search results, where results are presumably more visible. Also, 496 advertisements, over twice the number of search results, appeared. We conclude that the Google™ search engine may have shortcomings when used to obtain information on dietary supplements and cancer.

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