Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia
Background The popularity of mobile health (mHealth) applications (or apps) in the field of health and medical education is rapidly increasing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to assess awareness, attitudes, practices, and factors associated with the mHealth app usage among medical...
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my.unimas.ir.389842022-07-28T23:54:33Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38984/ Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia Julian Valerie, John Jembai Wong, Charlene Yi Lin Nur Alia, Muhammad Amir Bakhtiar Siti Nursuraya, Md Lazim Ling, Hwei Sung Kuan, Pei Xuan Chua, Pin Fen R Medicine (General) Background The popularity of mobile health (mHealth) applications (or apps) in the field of health and medical education is rapidly increasing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to assess awareness, attitudes, practices, and factors associated with the mHealth app usage among medical students. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study involving medical students at a government university in Sarawak, Malaysia, from February to April 2021. Validated questionnaires were administered to all consenting students. These questionnaires included questions on basic demographic information as well as awareness, attitude toward, and practices with mHealth apps concerned with medical education, health and fitness, and COVID-19 management. Results Respondents had favorable attitudes toward mHealth apps (medical education [61.8%], health and fitness [76.3%], and COVID-19 management [82.7%]). Respondents’ mean attitude scores were four out of five for all three app categories. However, respondents used COVID-19 management apps more frequently (73.5%) than those for medical education (35.7%) and fitness (39.0%). Usage of all three app categories was significantly associated with the respondent’s awareness and attitude. Respondents in the top 20% in term of household income and study duration were more likely to use medical education apps. The number of respondents who used COVID-19 apps was higher in the top 20% household income group than in the other income groups. The most common barrier to the use of apps was uncertainty regarding the most suitable apps to choose. Conclusion Our study highlighted a discrepancy between awareness of mHealth apps and positive attitudes toward them and their use. Recognition of barriers to using mHealth apps by relevant authorities may be necessary to increase the usage of these apps. Springer Nature 2022 Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38984/1/Mobile%20health%20applications.pdf Julian Valerie, John Jembai and Wong, Charlene Yi Lin and Nur Alia, Muhammad Amir Bakhtiar and Siti Nursuraya, Md Lazim and Ling, Hwei Sung and Kuan, Pei Xuan and Chua, Pin Fen (2022) Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia. BMC Medical Education, 22 (544). pp. 1-14. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-022-03603-4 10.1186/s12909-022-03603-4 |
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R Medicine (General) Julian Valerie, John Jembai Wong, Charlene Yi Lin Nur Alia, Muhammad Amir Bakhtiar Siti Nursuraya, Md Lazim Ling, Hwei Sung Kuan, Pei Xuan Chua, Pin Fen Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia |
description |
Background
The popularity of mobile health (mHealth) applications (or apps) in the field of health and medical education is rapidly increasing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to assess awareness, attitudes, practices, and factors associated with the mHealth app usage among medical students.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study involving medical students at a government university in Sarawak, Malaysia, from February to April 2021. Validated questionnaires were administered to all consenting students. These questionnaires included questions on basic demographic information as well as awareness, attitude toward, and practices with mHealth apps concerned with medical education, health and fitness, and COVID-19 management.
Results
Respondents had favorable attitudes toward mHealth apps (medical education [61.8%], health and fitness [76.3%], and COVID-19 management [82.7%]). Respondents’ mean attitude scores were four out of five for all three app categories. However, respondents used COVID-19 management apps more frequently (73.5%) than those for medical education (35.7%) and fitness (39.0%). Usage of all three app categories was significantly associated with the respondent’s awareness and attitude. Respondents in the top 20% in term of household income and study duration were more likely to use medical education apps. The number of respondents who used COVID-19 apps was higher in the top 20% household income group than in the other income groups. The most common barrier to the use of apps was uncertainty regarding the most suitable apps to choose.
Conclusion
Our study highlighted a discrepancy between awareness of mHealth apps and positive attitudes toward them and their use. Recognition of barriers to using mHealth apps by relevant authorities may be necessary to increase the usage of these apps. |
format |
Article |
author |
Julian Valerie, John Jembai Wong, Charlene Yi Lin Nur Alia, Muhammad Amir Bakhtiar Siti Nursuraya, Md Lazim Ling, Hwei Sung Kuan, Pei Xuan Chua, Pin Fen |
author_facet |
Julian Valerie, John Jembai Wong, Charlene Yi Lin Nur Alia, Muhammad Amir Bakhtiar Siti Nursuraya, Md Lazim Ling, Hwei Sung Kuan, Pei Xuan Chua, Pin Fen |
author_sort |
Julian Valerie, John Jembai |
title |
Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia |
title_short |
Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia |
title_full |
Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia |
title_fullStr |
Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in Malaysia |
title_sort |
mobile health applications: awareness, attitudes, and practices among medical students in malaysia |
publisher |
Springer Nature |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38984/1/Mobile%20health%20applications.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38984/ https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-022-03603-4 |
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1739834822260424704 |
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13.209306 |