JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The project of scaling up noncommunicable disease (NCD) interventions in Southeast Asia aimed to strengthen the prevention and control of hypertension and diabetes, with a focus on primary health care and community levels. In Vietnam, health volunteers who were members of the Intergenerational Self-help Clubs (ISHCs) implemented community-based NCD screening and health promotion activities in communities. The ISHC health volunteers used a software application based on District Health Information 2 (DHIS 2) tracker to record details of participants during screening and other health activities.

Objective:

This study aims to assess the strengths, barriers, opportunities, and challenges of the NCD screening application used by the ISHC health volunteers on tablets, and to provide recommendations for further scaling up.

Methods:

A mixed-method observational study with a convergent parallel design was performed. For the quantitative data analysis, two rounds of screening data collected from all 59 ISHCs were analyzed on completeness and quality. For the qualitative analysis, two rounds of evaluation of the screening application were completed. Focus group discussions with ISHC health volunteers and club management boards and in-depth interviews with members of the Association of the Elderly and Commune Health Station staff were performed.

Results:

Data completeness of all 6,704 screenings (n=3,485 individuals) was very high and for anthropomorphic measurements, such as blood pressure, body weight, and abdominal circumference, less than 1% errors were found. The data on NCD risk factors were not adequately recorded in 1,908 (29.5%) of the screenings. The NCD screening application was appreciated by ISHC health volunteers and supervisors, as an easier and more efficient way to report to higher levels, securing data and strengthening relationships with relevant stakeholders. Data were used by ISHCs to analyze the uptake of screening and epidemiological patterns. Some health volunteers used tablets to connect to the internet and online platforms to access information for self-learning and sharing to promote a healthy lifestyle. The limitations reported by the respondents were a non-age-friendly application, incomplete translation of parts of the application into Vietnamese, some issues with the tablet’s display, lack of sharing of responsibilities among the health volunteers, and sub-optimal involvement of the health sector. ISHC health volunteers with limited digital literacy faced problems in learning how to use the application.

Conclusions:

The implementation of the NCD screening application by ISHC volunteers can be an effective way to improve community-led NCD screening and increase the uptake of NCD prevention and management services at the PHC level. However, our study has shown that some barriers need to be addressed to maximize the efficient use of the application by ISHC health volunteers to record, report, and manage the screening data.