mHealth Enablers and Inhibitors in a Rural Poor Setting

Although mobile phone penetration in Kenya stands at 132.2%, mHealth uptake in rural regions is significantly low. This paper evaluates factors of mHealth adoption by analysing diverse behavioural change theories from social, technology and health backgrounds. A quantitative research approach was used to collect data from a random sample of 315 respondents in Nyatoto sub-county of Western Kenya. The results show that the most significant contributor to mHealth adoption was the ease of using mHealth technology as perceived by the potential user. Besides, disease threat in terms of its severity and susceptibility informed the perceived usefulness of mHealth technology. Individual’s age, literacy in the language used to deliver healthcare information, social influence by the significant peers, and the perceived usefulness of the mHealth technology jointly affected the user’s perceived ease of using the mHealth technology. The findings from this research may guide successful mHealth deployment in rural settings.