Review and special article

Health and the Mobile Phone

Smart cities have emerged to cope with economic and environmental challenges posed by modern-day complex city systems. This study hypothesized that overcoming such challenges with a smart city framework entails a systematic approach to increasing synergies and eliminating trade-offs between different smart city indicators. This study applied network analysis and used data from 33 smart cities worldwide for the period 2005–2019 to ascertain these synergies and trade-offs by introducing a modified framework of smart cities based on the community identification of interconnected smart city drivers. The findings of this study reveal that very few trade-offs exist in the network of smart city indicators compared to the identified synergies. Furthermore, the network statistics show that innovation, business sophistication, ICT infrastructure, and government effectiveness are key drivers of a smart city.

The present study aims to assess the intention of the older population to use healthcare wearable devices (HWDs) for wellness during life-threatening situations like COVID-19. The target population for the study was senior citizens (individuals aged above 60) living in Delhi and the national capital region. The respondents were aware that smartwatches could be used to monitor their health. Data from 534 respondents was collected using a structured questionnaire and nonprobability-based sampling method. The partial least squares structure equation model (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothesized model derived from the protection motivation theory (PMT) and constructs from previous studies on HWDs. Healthcare wearables offer new perspectives for gauging both health and technology-related dimensions. The present study is important as unlike existing studies, it discusses not only the utilitarian characteristics of HWDs but also their health-protective dimensions, which are crucial in times of life-threatening situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that there is a significant impact of both the protective and utilitarian dimensions of HWDs. The study assesses the perceived vulnerability and severity of the older population in COVID 19 and the intention to use HWDs to handle such health crises. The study confirms that perceived usefulness and information accuracy of HWDs, as well as self-efficacy, perceived severity, and perceived vulnerability of senior citizens are high during the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly influences their intention to use HWDs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has limited face-to-face treatment, triggering a change in the structure of existing healthcare services. Unlike other groups, workers in underserved areas have relatively poor access to healthcare.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of video-based telehealth services using a mobile personal health record (PHR) app for vulnerable workers with metabolic risk factors.

A prospective observational study was conducted with 117 participants and 27 healthcare professionals for 16 weeks. Participants visited the research institution three times (at weeks 1, 8, and 16) and underwent health check-ups and used various features of the mobile PHR app. Healthcare professionals observed the participants’s data using the monitoring system and performed appropriate interventions. The primary outcome measures were to evaluate the effects of services on changes in the participants’ metabolic risk factors, and secondary outcome measures were to analyze changes in the participants’ lifestyle and service satisfaction, and to observe service use through usage logs. One-way repeated measures ANOVA and Scheffé’s test were performed to observe changes in participants’ health status and lifestyle, and a paired t-test was performed to analyze changes in service satisfaction. Finally, in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals were performed using semi-structured questionnaires to understand service providers’ perspectives after the end of the study.

Systolic blood pressure (F = 7.32, P <.001), diastolic blood pressure (F = 11.30, P <.001), body weight (F = 29.53, P <.001), BMI (F = 17.31, P <.001), waist circumference (F = 17.33, P <.001), fasting blood glucose (F = 5.11, P =.007), and triglycerides (F = 4.66, P =.01) showed significant improvements with time points, whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (F = 3.35, P =.067) did not. The dietary score (F = 3.26, P =.04) showed a significant improvement with time points, whereas physical activity (F = 1.06, P =.34) did not. In terms of service satisfaction, only lifestyle improvement (P <.001) showed a significant difference. COVID-19 has affected the performance of healthcare professionals, thereby changing the perspectives toward healthcare technology services.

We evaluated the effectiveness of video-based telehealth services supporting workers’ health status and lifestyle interventions using healthcare technologies such as the mobile PHR app, tele-monitoring, and video teleconsultation. Our results indicate that as a complementary means, its utility can be expanded in the field of occupational safety and health to overcome the limitations of face-to-face treatment due to COVID-19 in the future.

The growing accessibility to smartphones has raised concerns about addictive patterns associated with these technologies. A Smartphone Addiction Scale has been developed to assess individuals’ smartphone addiction. However, the psychometric properties of the Smartphone Addiction Scale are scarce in the context of Saudi Arabia.

This study aimed to translate and adapt the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) to Arabic and examine the psychometric properties of the Arabic scale in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Forward and backward translations were performed on the English SAS, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016). The translated version was initially administered to 20 students in a pilot study. In the full study, a sample of 624 participants (52.5% females, mean age = 25 years) responded to questionnaires containing SAS, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale. The survey was sent via online platforms in order to reach as many and diverse participants as possible. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted.

The EFA resulted in a structure of six factors and the CFA indicated that the 6-factor model (daily disturbance, positive anticipation, withdrawal, cyberspace-oriented relationships, overuse, and tolerance) had a good fit in Saudi Arabia (CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMR = 0.04). The scale was also gender invariant and exhibited adequate reliability and convergent and concurrent validity.

The SAS is a reliable and valid measure that can be used to assess smartphone addiction in Saudi Arabia.

Mobile phone-based health (mHealth) interventions have the potential to improve HIV outcomes for high-risk young adults living in informal urban settlements in Kenya. However, less is known regarding young adults’ differential access to mobile phones and their willingness and use of mobile phone technologies to access HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. This is important as young adults make up the largest demographic segment of impoverished, informal urban settlements and are disproportionately impacted by HIV.

This study used observational survey data from 350 young adults, aged 18–22, who were living informal urban settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Respondent driven sampling methods were used to recruit and enroll eligible youth. Using descriptive statistics and logistical regressions, we examined the prevalence of mobile phone access, willingness, and use for HIV services. We also assessed associated demographic characteristics in the odds of access, willingness, and use.

The mean age of participants was 19 years (±1.3). 56% were male. Mobile phone coverage, including text messaging and mobile internet, was high (>80%), but only 15% of young adults had ever used mobile phones to access HIV services. Willingness was high (65%), especially among those who had individual phone access (77%) compared to lower willingness (18%) among those who shared a phone. More educated (OR = 1.84, 95 %CI:1.14–2.97) and employed (OR = 1.70, 95 %CI:1.02 = 2.83) young adults were also more willing to use phones for HIV services. In contrast, participants living in large households (OR = 0.47, 95 %CI:0.24–0.921), were religious minorities (OR = 0.56, 95 %CI:0.32–0.99), partnered/married (OR = 0.30, 95 %CI:0.10–0.91), or female (OR = 0.29, 95 %CI:0.16–0.55) were significantly less likely to have mobile phone access or usage, limiting their potential participation in HIV-related mHealth interventions. Given the low usage of mobile phones currently for HIV services, no differences in demographic characteristics were observed.

Mobile health technologies may be under-utilized in HIV services for at-risk youth. Our findings highlight the importance of preliminary, formative research regarding population differences in access, willingness, and use of mobile phones for HIV services. More efforts are needed to ensure that mHealth interventions account for potential differences in preferences for mobile phone-based HIV interventions by gender, age, religion, education, and/or employment status.