Effect of Mobile Application on Heath Workers' Knowledge of Routine Immunization at Primary Health Care Facilities in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Mobile applications are now acceptable and feasible interventions for many healthcare problems but little is documented about the extent to which Nigerian healthcare professionals use mobile application for knowledge update on routine immunization. This study assessed the effect of mobile app on the health workers’ knowledge of routine immunization at primary health care facilities in Kano State. A quasi experimental research design was adopted for this study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 171 participants for the study. A pre-test questionnaire was administered to the selected participants to assess their level of knowledge on routine immunization after which they were provided with the developed immunization mobile app on their smartphones. After 6 months of application, a post-test questionnaire was administered to the participants to assess their knowledge.   Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 was used to analyze the data. The hypotheses were tested by cross-tabulations using Spearman’s rho test of association and the Pearson’s chi-square. Findings revealed significant proportion of the respondents (71.3%) indicated that they used the immunization mobile app. Ninety one participants scored above 60% level of knowledge on routine immunization before the intervention while 108 participants scored above 60% level of knowledge on routine immunization after the intervention. Pearson’s chi-square reported that the result in which 108 participants scored above 60% after the intervention compared to 91 participants before the intervention is statistically significant (X2 = 3.84, P= 0.004). The use of immunization mobile application improved significantly the knowledge of routine immunization among health workers as demonstrated in this study.

Keywords: mobile application, knowledge, routine immunization, primary health care