Quality Evaluation of Mobile Health Systems

• Main Authors: Mohammad Naghizadeh, Mahsima Kazemi-Movahed, Samaneh Sabaghian, Sohrab Aghazadeh
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Vesnu Publications 2016-05-01
• Series: مدیریت اطلاعات سلامت
• Subjects: Mobile Health; Analytic Hierarchy Process; Quality Evaluation
• Online Access: http://him.mui.ac.ir/index.php/him/article/view/2745

Introduction: Despite the great importance of comprehensive evaluation of mobile health services, as a part of ‎novel health services, most researches have only focused on the evaluation of the technical ‎aspects and have neglected other aspects of these services. The main objective of this study was ‎the identification and prioritization of the indicators and dimensions of mobile health systems’ ‎quality by considering all critical aspects including technical, information, and interactive ‎dimensions. Methods: This applied and descriptive study was conducted through survey method. A questionnaire was ‎used to collect data the validity of which was confirmed by academic experts. The statistical ‎population of the study included experts of health services quality evaluation with emphasis on ‎mobile health with more than 3 years of experience in this field. Using judgmental sampling (non-‎probability purposive sampling), 28 subjects were selected and questionnaires were distributed ‎among them. The content validity of the scale was confirmed by experts and its reliability was ‎approved through calculation of inconsistency rate for all pairwise comparison matrixes (less than ‎‎0.1). The collected data were analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process in Expert Choice ‎Software. Results: The interaction quality dimension was the most important among the dimensions of quality ‎assessment of mobile health services. In addition, the indicators of privacy, effectiveness, safety, ‎real-time performance, accountability, after-sales service, and patient-centered services were ‎respectively, the most important quality indicators. Conclusion: It is necessary to study mobile health services in the context of other health services and not just ‎simply as software. The success of a mobile health system is based, first, on the quality of general ‎health service indicators such as accountability, patient-centered services, and privacy, and then, ‎on the quality of software system indicators. Therefore, it is necessary for all stakeholders to be ‎involved in the process of designing a mobile health service in order to improve the chances of ‎success.