Browsing by Author "Namatovu, Hasifah K."

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    Barriers and Facilitators of eHealth Adoption among Patients in Uganda – A Quantitative Study
    (Preprints, 2021) Namatovu, Hasifah K.; Semwanga, Agnes R.
    The adoption of eHealth has not made great strides in Uganda especially among patients despite its potential in improving patient outcomes through access to care, patient engagement and its ability to reduce unnecessary hospital visits. Previous studies have focused on barriers and facilitators of eHealth in general. None has examined the adoption of eHealth among patients. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the barriers and facilitators of eHealth adoption among patients in Uganda. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in four districts across the country. A total of 292 patients of 18 years and above participated in the study and their selection was through simple random sampling. The bivariate analysis results revealed that education level (χ2 = 14.9, ρ<0.05), gender (χ2 = 4.95, ρ<0.05) and location (χ2 = 85.9, ρ<0.05) have a statistical significant relationship with eHealth adoption. The logistic regression model further revealed that male patients (OR=2.662), those with master’s degree and above (OR=2.2797) and those residing in Kampala (OR=.012) were more likely to use eHealth systems than their counterparts. The success of eHealth requires players in the health sector to ardently focus on the socio-demographic factors of the users, technological and hospital conditions if eHealth adoption is to ensue.
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    Challenges Affecting Health Referral Systems in Low-And Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Literature Review
    (European Journal of Health Sciences, 2021) Nakayuki, Mildred; Basaza, Annabella H.D; Namatovu, Hasifah K.
    Low and middle-income countries are still facing challenges of dysfunctional referral systems which have impaired health service provision. This review aimed at investigating these challenges to understand their nature, cause, and the impacts they have on health service provision.Database search was made in Google scholar, ACM Library, PubMed health, and BMC public health, and a total of 123 papers were generated. Only 14 fitted the inclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria included studies that were both quantitative and qualitative addressing challenges facing referral systems or health referral systems, studies describing the barriers to effective referral systems, and studies describing factors that affect referral systems. The review only included studies conducted in LMICs and included literature between January 2010 and February 2021.Results revealed that human resource and financial constraints, non-compliance, and communication are the key challenges affecting referral systems in LMICs.Countries that are facing these challenges need to overhaul the system and improve end-to-end communication between hospitals, improve capacity specifically in referral and emergency units, and sensitizing patients on the adherence to emergency protocols.
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    Examining the Extent to which Elements of the Chronic Care Model Address Barriers to effective Self-Management of Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions
    (Prague, 2022) Serugunda, Henry M.; Namatovu, Hasifah K.; Muwoge, Bernard S.; Kimbugwe, Nasser
    Multiple chronic conditions among patients is still a big public health burden across the globe, yet when properly managed, it can improve patient health outcomes. Despite the studies that have been conducted, little is known about the effectiveness of the chronic care model elements in addressing barriers to self-management of patients with multiple chronic conditions. Therefore, this study set out to study the effectiveness of the Chronic Care Model (CCM) in addressing self-management (SM) barriers of patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC). A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, google, google scholar, ScienceDirect, Embase, Cochrane library for English studies published in between 2007 – 2021. Articles were included if they were peer reviewed and focused on barriers to self-management of patients with multiple chronic condition and chronic care model implementation. Data was synthesized, carefully mapped, categorised to eliminate ambiguity and thematized to increase clarity. From an initial population of 105 articles, 18 articles passed on grounds of relevance. Literature was classified into patient centred barriers, health provider barriers, and environmental barriers. This study revealed that the CCM does not address multimorbidity SM barriers of; limited resources, distance to health facilities, conflicting information, treatment burden and environmental barriers. Therefore there is need for a model applicable in low resource settings that addresses the identified gaps in the CCM for effective SM of patients with MCC. There is a need for policies that enable coordination and communication amongst public and private multiple chronic care providers. Chronic Care providers need to adopt a holistic approach in managing patients with MCC.
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    Women's Decision-Making Autonomy and ICT Utilization on Access to Antenatal Care Services: Survey Results From Jinja and Kampala Cities, Uganda
    (bioRxiv, 2019) Namatovu, Hasifah K.; Oyana, Tonny J.; Lubega, Jude T.
    There is growing evidence in Uganda that the non-attendance of antenatal care is largely influenced by the lack of decision-making autonomy, inadequate information and poor services offered in health facilities. Although previous studies have examined barriers and facilitators of antenatal care, a few of them have investigated the extent of decision making autonomy and ICT adoption among expectant mothers. A cross sectional design through focus group discussions and survey questionnaires was used to collect data. Three hundred and twenty households were randomly sampled in Kampala and Jinja districts. The Chi-square tests (χ2) for independence to analyze group differences among women’s socio-demographic characteristics and decision-making autonomy was used. Inclusion criteria included respondents aged 18 and 50 years, completion of primary school education, expectant mothers and mothers who gave birth two years prior to the study. A hundred and sixty-four respondents participated in this survey. About 59.5% of women lacked decision making autonomy. Midwives (37.6%) and village health teams (35%) were a major source of antenatal care information, and 49.5% of expectant mothers lacked ANC information. Ninety percent (90%) of mothers did not use any form of ICT’s to enhance their decisions yet 79% possessed mobile phones. We observed a strong association between antenatal care decision-making autonomy and women with higher education (χ2 = 8.63, ρ = 0.035), married (χ2 = 4.1, ρ = 0.043) and mature (36–50) (χ2 = 8.81, ρ = 0.032). The main findings in this study suggest that ICT adoption and decision making autonomy among expectant mothers is still low and less appreciated. Control measures and interventions should be geared towards empowering women to influence their decisions.