Women's Access to Mobile Phones and Willingness to Utilize mHealth Interventions for Oral Health Promotion in Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Study
Women's Access to Mobile Phones and Willingness to Utilize mHealth Interventions for Oral Health Promotion in Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Study
In 2019, it was reported that there were 27.9 million smart phone users and 93.7 million phone subscribers in Egypt. This means that mHealth (which is the use of mobile phones in delivering health-care and public health services) could be a major asset to delivering oral health education to the secluded rural areas or the more under privileged remote areas in the future. However, in order to employ mHealth effectively, it's essential to estimate the percentage of users who, not only have access to mobile technology, but are also willing to utilize mHealth interventions. It is also of great importance to understand the patients' preferences regarding its use. This is in order to tailor an intervention that satisfies their needs for oral health related services. Therefore the aim of this study is to determine the access of Egyptian women to mobile phones, as well as their willingness to utilize mHealth interventions for oral health promotion.
Dental caries and periodontal diseases contribute greatly to the global burden of oral diseases. Unfortunately, this is more observed in the developing countries. This is mainly attributed to the shortage of oral health personnel that Africa suffers from, which results in oral health services being offered mostly to central and urban areas of Africa.
Women, in particular, suffer from health inequalities. Those inequalities are mainly related to socioeconomic status and the geographic region in which they reside.
A study conducted in Egypt in 2014 underlined the oral health inequalities present within the country. This study emphasized the need for oral health promotion plans which are specially directed towards individuals with low-income. That is to provide health equity in terms of access to oral health-care services and quality treatment for all the Egyptian population.
One way to address this problem is the use of Electronic health or "eHealth". mHealth, which is a subset of eHealth, is the use of mobile phones to deliver health-care services through short messaging services (SMS), smart phone applications and voice calls. Several studies highlighted that mHealth can be an effective tool in delivering public health services in a cost effective way and without any geographic barriers.
The multitasking capabilities of mobile phones provide a great chance for chronic disease prevention and improvement as it offers remote health education. Moreover, it provides the patients with increased care and allows for self-management. Mobile phones can also be used as reminders for medications and appointments and allow for immediate contact between the doctor and the patient. This way, mHealth offers uninterrupted care, close monitoring to the patients and rapid response from the doctors' side, this is of course regarded as a more comfortable approach to the patients.
The challenge still lies in the adoption and acceptance of mHealth by the patients, which is controlled by the user's willingness to utilize this new technology. This problem is even more observed in the developing countries. Although mHealth interventions were previously attempted to improve oral health, none were implemented in Egypt. This is the first study to explore the potential use of mHealth for oral health promotion in Egypt.
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mariamayman@dent.asu.edu.eg+2 01068022877