JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digitally delivering healthcare services (eHealth) is very attractive for tuberculosis (TB) management, as this disease has a complex diagnosis, lengthy management, and involving multiple medical and non-medical specialists. Especially in low and middle income countries, eHealth could potentially offer cost-effective solutions to bridge financial, social, time and distance challenges.

Objective:

To understand what would make eHealth globally applicable and to gain insight into different TB situations, opportunities, and challenges.

Methods:

We performed focus group interviews (FGI) with TB experts and patients from six different countries on four different continents. The FGIs followed the theory of planned behaviour framework in order to offer structured recommendations for a versatile eHealth solution. The FGIs were preceded by a general demographic and technology usage questionnaire. Questionnaire results were analysed using basic statistics in Microsoft Excel. FGI data was analysed using ATLAS.ti V.8 by assigning codes to quotations and grouping codes into the five domains within the framework.

Results:

A total of 29 patients and 32 medical staff members were included in our study. All medical staff had used the internet whereas 31% of patients had never been online. The codes with the most quotations were information in relation to eHealth (144 quotations) and communication (67 quotations). The consensus amongst all participants, from all countries is that there are important communication and information gaps which could be bridged by an eHealth application. Participants from different countries also highlighted different challenges, such as a majority of asylum seeker patients or lack of infrastructure which could be addressed by building an eHealth app.

Conclusions:

Within the six countries interviewed there is high enthusiasm towards eHealth in TB. A potential app could first target information and communication gaps in tuberculosis, with additional modules aimed at setting-specific challenges.