engleski

Acceptability of m-Health Solutions and its Relationship with Public Trust

Mobile devices with health-related apps hold the potential for increasing the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. Two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have put additional stress on already struggling healthcare systems around the world, representing an opportunity for digital tools and e-health solutions to step in. This paper analyses acceptability of three mobile health solutions in Croatia and its relationship with public trust. Each of the apps, Health Portal, Stop COVID-19 and CovidGO, had their own paths to the users, paved by provided information, promotion existence and dynamics, as well as the impact of public actions, such as media appearances of authority figures mentioning the apps. Health Portal and Stop COVID-19 apps gained momentum as well as the national uptake of EU digital COVID certificates, for which CovidGO app was instrumental. Needing to use one app, users realized there are other m-health apps published by the Ministry of Health at the global app stores, which many chose to download as well. This demonstrates a certain level of citizens’ trust to the offered solutions.

m-health, acceptability, public trust, COVID-19, mobile apps

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