Knowledge, Attitude And Use Of Mobile Phones To Acquire Health-related Information Among Students Of Yaba College Of Technology, Lagos

Abstract

Background: Mobile phones have evolved from being luxuries to being one of the most common amenities that the average Nigerian possesses. Mobile health technology (mHealth) via the use of mobile phones to acquire health related information has its greatest
prospects in public health, where it has the potential of reaching a wider range of people and places with little or no extra cost both to the government/service provider and also to the end users.
Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and use of mobile phones to acquire health-related information among undergraduate students of Yaba College of  Technology, Akoka, in Lagos State.
Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out using self-administered questionnaires among 326 respondents selected using stratified sampling method. Data was analyzed using 2008 Epi-Info statistical software.
Results: The mean age of respondents was 22.61 + 3.34 years. Most respondents showed good knowledge (91.2%) and positive attitude (98.2%) regarding mHealth. Seventy percent of the respondents owned smart phones, 26.4% were currently subscribed to health-related short messaging service (SMS) while 22.5% had health-related applications on their phones. Six months preceding the study, 29.9% had used their mobile phones to get health-related information via SMS (49.5%), for mobile Internet (41.1%) and mobile applications (29.4%). Younger age and good knowledge were factors associated with a positive attitude towards mHealth.
Conclusion: Most respondents had good knowledge and positive attitude towards mobile phone use for health information acquisition,  however most still did not use it for this purpose. Stakeholders can leverage on their knowledge and positive attitude to further consolidate on the benefits of mobile technology for health purposes among this population as its potential is huge.

Keywords: Mobile Phones, Health, Health Information