Zeleke Abebaw Mekonnen

Partners in Health, Sierra Leone

Abstract Title: Health workers acceptance and satisfaction on the usability of the digital health goods, in Kono district, Sierra Leone

Biography:

Dr. Zeleke Abebaw is a researcher who holds a PhD in public health and is currently an assistant professor. He works as a research specialist at Partners in Health-Sierra Leone, having previously held the position of policy, strategy, and research analyst at the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia. With over 10 years of experience in the health systems and academia in both Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, he has successfully led numerous research projects to completion and published more than 60 articles in the areas of health system, maternal and child health, communicable and non-communicable disease, eHealth, health information systems and implementation science. Dr. Zeleke is also a passionate mentor and collaborator, guiding many young researchers and fostering a culture of innovation and learning within the research community.

Research Interest:

Introduction: Digital health systems implementation in developing countries is increasing exponentially and digital health interventions are essential tools to improve access and quality of health care. However, there is meager evidence on end users' acceptance and satisfaction with digital health goods in Sierra Leone context. Hence, this study aimed to assess the end user's acceptance, satisfaction with digital health goods and associated factors in selected health facilities of Kono district, Sierra Leone.

Methods: A health facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among 151 health workers in selected health facilities of Kono district, Sierra Leone. Data was collected from May 25 to June 16, 2023. Initially, descriptive statistics were computed. Further, bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were also used to identify factors associated with the user acceptance of digital health goods. Finally, the results were reported as AORs with corresponding 95% CIs.

Results: Of the 151 respondents, 109 (72.2%) have good acceptance to the digital health systems. The findings showed that a total of 95.4% of participants were either strongly satisfied (49.7%) or satisfied (45.7%) with the digital health goods. The study indicated that perceived ease of use [AOR=5.56; 95% CI: 2.17, 14.26], digital health system type [AOR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.55] and the frequency of digital system use [AOR=0.04; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.41] were predictors of end users' acceptance. The major barriers for successful implementation were inability to be used offline, being slow and taking longer time to input information in the system.

Conclusion: The study concludes that end users' acceptance and satisfaction with digital health goods was high. Perceived ease of use, digital health system type and frequency of use are predictors of user acceptance of digital health systems. Long- term system acceptance could be achieved through addressing end users' preference and potential barriers of implementation.

Key words: Digital Health, User Acceptance, Satisfaction, Kono, Sierra Leone.