فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

BACKGROUND: Information technology (IT) can be used by frontline health workers (FLWs) toconnect and deliver care to the community. Various studies in India have assessed the beneficialimpact of IT usage by FLWs, but for the long‑term sustainability, the attitude and belief toward ITusage have not been adequately studied. We conducted this study to assess the knowledge andattitude and to explore the beliefs of FLWs toward the use of IT in a rural area of Haryana.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a mixed‑method study (qualitative and quantitativeapproach) in a rural setting of Haryana, India. We included FLWs of two primary health centers (PHCs).Data were collected from October 19, 2020 to December 31, 2020. We collected data from 75 accreditedsocial health activists (ASHAs), 37 Anganwadi workers (AWWs), 28 multi‑purpose workers (MPWs),two information assistants, and two medical officers using a semi‑structured interview schedule. Theirknowledge about the benefits of IT use, past use of IT applications and devices, and self‑rating ofknowledge regarding computers or laptops were collected. We used 14 attitude statements, each witha five‑point Likert scale to assess the attitude; a total score ≥35 was considered a positive attitude.We conducted eight focus group discussions (FGDs) to explore the beliefs regarding IT usage (fourFGDs with ASHAs, two FGDs with AWWs, and two FGDs with MPWs). A descriptive analysis wasperformed for the quantitative data, and a thematic analysis was performed for qualitative data.RESULTS: Knowledge about the benefits of IT use was present among 77.8% of FLWs. Amongthe FLWs, 79.2% self‑rated their knowledge of computers/laptops as ‘do not have knowledge’, 16%self‑rated as ‘low knowledge’, and 4.8% self‑rated as ‘good knowledge’. The median total score forattitude statements among all the FLWs (n = 144) was 54 [inter‑quartile range – 48–59]. Four themesemerged for beliefs toward IT usage, namely, positive beliefs, negative beliefs, challenges anticipatedin adopting IT use, and facilitation factors. The positive beliefs were related to improvement in workefficiency and social status, less paperwork, timely report generation, and better learning. The negativebeliefs were related to an increase in working hours, close monitoring, and feeling over‑burdened.CONCLUSION: We found that FLWs had knowledge regarding the benefits of IT use, but theylacked knowledge regarding laptop/computer use. They had a satisfactory level of confidence inusing smartphones, and most of them were using mobile applications. The majority of the FLWs hada positive attitude and beliefs toward IT use and wanted to use it in the future.