How to disseminate a health screening mobile app to men? A qualitative study

Ooi, Chor Yau and Teo, Chin Hai and Ng, Chirk Jenn (2018) How to disseminate a health screening mobile app to men? A qualitative study. In: 11th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health, December 3-5, 2018, Renaissance Washington D.C..

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Abstract

Background: Mobile health is increasingly being used to improve healthcare. There is a potential of using health-related mobile apps to reach out to “difficult to reach” populations, including young working men, to improve their health, particularly in health screening. However, few studies have been done on how to implement a health screening mobile app from the perspective of men. The aim of this study was to explore men's preferred strategies on how a mobile app can be disseminated to them. It was part of a bigger study to develop, evaluate and implement a mobile app to increase the uptake of screening in men. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 31 men from a banking institution in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia in 2015. The participants were purposively sampled according to their job position, age, ethnicity and screening status. We stopped the recruitment once data saturation was achieved. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic approach was used for analysis. Findings: Men proposed a range of dissemination strategies that they preferred including: mass media (television and radio), printed media (banners and men’s magazines), online platforms (website, social media and emails), health events and recommendations from doctors and friends. The most often cited dissemination strategies were online platforms and mass media. Facebook was highlighted by participants because most participants have a Facebook account thus enabling the mobile app to reach them through the platform. WhatsApp was also mentioned as it enabled users to easily send ‘links’ of the mobile app to other users, thus facilitating the dissemination of the app. Television and radio was also cited as a facilitator to the dissemination of the mobile app as most men had access to these media. Implications for D&I Research: This study highlighted that, for men, social media platforms and mass media were important strategies to disseminate the mobile app because these two platforms were very much part of everyday life of men in this region. These two strategies should be considered when disseminating health screening mobile app to men.

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