Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults
Abstract Background As smartphone becomes increasingly prevalent and affordable, more youths today can own a smartphone device and download applications in various application stores. Smartphone applications have been proven to be useful for youths in various aspects. However, there has been a pauci...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
BMC
2018-06-01
|
Series: | BMC Public Health |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-018-5641-0 |
id |
doaj-4d15091d87084860bb4001d2eb7386cc |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-4d15091d87084860bb4001d2eb7386cc2020-11-24T22:11:22ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582018-06-011811810.1186/s12889-018-5641-0Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adultsToan Thanh Thi Do0Mai Dinh Le1Thanh Van Nguyen2Bach Xuan Tran3Huong Thi Le4Hinh Duc Nguyen5Long Hoang Nguyen6Cuong Tat Nguyen7Tho Dinh Tran8Carl A. Latkin9Roger C. M. Ho10Melvyn W. B. Zhang11Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical UniversityDepartment of Hospital Quality Management, Vietnam National Cancer HospitalInstitute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical UniversityInstitute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical UniversityInstitute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical UniversityInstitute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical UniversitySchool of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National UniversityInstitute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan UniversityDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Viet-Duc HospitalBloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins UniversityDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of SingaporeBiomedical Global Institute of Healthcare Research & Technology (BIGHEART), National University of SingaporeAbstract Background As smartphone becomes increasingly prevalent and affordable, more youths today can own a smartphone device and download applications in various application stores. Smartphone applications have been proven to be useful for youths in various aspects. However, there has been a paucity of data looking into the preferences of Vietnamese youths and adolescents with regards to health-related applications and their receptiveness towards smartphone apps. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications (mHealth apps) among online Vietnamese youths and adolescents. Methods An online cross-sectional study was conducted between the periods of August till October 2015 in Vietnam. Respondent-driven sampling technique (RDS) was utilized to recruit participants. Participants were asked questions about their history of downloading and using health-related smartphone applications and their receptiveness when using these applications. Moreover, socio-demographic characteristics and health status were also self-reported. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to determine associated factors. Results Among 1028 participants, 57.4% owned a smartphone and only 14.1% of smartphone users have used a health-related smartphone application, and most of these individuals downloaded the applications for disease prevention (66.3%). 66.4% of the participants who owned these applications reported that health applications were useful and 92.8% reported being satisfied with the functionalities of the applications which they owned. Among smartphone users, people who were employed (OR = 15.46; 95%CI = 4.93–48.47) were more likely to download mHealth apps. Meanwhile, youths with higher EQ-5D index had a lower likelihood of downloading healthcare-related smartphone applications (OR = 0.17; 95%CI = 0.04–0.81). Conclusions This study highlighted a low rate of mHealth apps utilization among online Vietnamese youths and adolescents but a high acceptance of individuals who already used these apps. Developing mHealth apps or interventions towards the disease prevention and quality of life improvement could be feasible to proliferate the benefits of such applications in youths and adolescents in Vietnam. Further research should be conducted to optimize the contents and interfaces of mHealth apps that meet the needs of these populations.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-018-5641-0Smartphone applicationsYouthsYoung adultsVietnam |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Toan Thanh Thi Do Mai Dinh Le Thanh Van Nguyen Bach Xuan Tran Huong Thi Le Hinh Duc Nguyen Long Hoang Nguyen Cuong Tat Nguyen Tho Dinh Tran Carl A. Latkin Roger C. M. Ho Melvyn W. B. Zhang |
spellingShingle |
Toan Thanh Thi Do Mai Dinh Le Thanh Van Nguyen Bach Xuan Tran Huong Thi Le Hinh Duc Nguyen Long Hoang Nguyen Cuong Tat Nguyen Tho Dinh Tran Carl A. Latkin Roger C. M. Ho Melvyn W. B. Zhang Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults BMC Public Health Smartphone applications Youths Young adults Vietnam |
author_facet |
Toan Thanh Thi Do Mai Dinh Le Thanh Van Nguyen Bach Xuan Tran Huong Thi Le Hinh Duc Nguyen Long Hoang Nguyen Cuong Tat Nguyen Tho Dinh Tran Carl A. Latkin Roger C. M. Ho Melvyn W. B. Zhang |
author_sort |
Toan Thanh Thi Do |
title |
Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults |
title_short |
Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults |
title_full |
Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults |
title_fullStr |
Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults |
title_full_unstemmed |
Receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among Vietnamese youth and young adults |
title_sort |
receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications among vietnamese youth and young adults |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Public Health |
issn |
1471-2458 |
publishDate |
2018-06-01 |
description |
Abstract Background As smartphone becomes increasingly prevalent and affordable, more youths today can own a smartphone device and download applications in various application stores. Smartphone applications have been proven to be useful for youths in various aspects. However, there has been a paucity of data looking into the preferences of Vietnamese youths and adolescents with regards to health-related applications and their receptiveness towards smartphone apps. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the receptiveness and preferences of health-related smartphone applications (mHealth apps) among online Vietnamese youths and adolescents. Methods An online cross-sectional study was conducted between the periods of August till October 2015 in Vietnam. Respondent-driven sampling technique (RDS) was utilized to recruit participants. Participants were asked questions about their history of downloading and using health-related smartphone applications and their receptiveness when using these applications. Moreover, socio-demographic characteristics and health status were also self-reported. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to determine associated factors. Results Among 1028 participants, 57.4% owned a smartphone and only 14.1% of smartphone users have used a health-related smartphone application, and most of these individuals downloaded the applications for disease prevention (66.3%). 66.4% of the participants who owned these applications reported that health applications were useful and 92.8% reported being satisfied with the functionalities of the applications which they owned. Among smartphone users, people who were employed (OR = 15.46; 95%CI = 4.93–48.47) were more likely to download mHealth apps. Meanwhile, youths with higher EQ-5D index had a lower likelihood of downloading healthcare-related smartphone applications (OR = 0.17; 95%CI = 0.04–0.81). Conclusions This study highlighted a low rate of mHealth apps utilization among online Vietnamese youths and adolescents but a high acceptance of individuals who already used these apps. Developing mHealth apps or interventions towards the disease prevention and quality of life improvement could be feasible to proliferate the benefits of such applications in youths and adolescents in Vietnam. Further research should be conducted to optimize the contents and interfaces of mHealth apps that meet the needs of these populations. |
topic |
Smartphone applications Youths Young adults Vietnam |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-018-5641-0 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT toanthanhthido receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT maidinhle receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT thanhvannguyen receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT bachxuantran receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT huongthile receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT hinhducnguyen receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT longhoangnguyen receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT cuongtatnguyen receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT thodinhtran receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT carlalatkin receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT rogercmho receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults AT melvynwbzhang receptivenessandpreferencesofhealthrelatedsmartphoneapplicationsamongvietnameseyouthandyoungadults |
_version_ |
1725805977281757184 |