Is the use of mobile health apps healthy or toxic to consumers?
Michael C. Cant (),
Rubeena Doomun () and
Johannes A. Wiid ()
Additional contact information
Michael C. Cant: University of South Africa, South Africa
Rubeena Doomun: Open University of Mauritius, Mauritius
Johannes A. Wiid: University of South Africa, South Africa
Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 2020, vol. 8, issue 1, 1162-1176
Abstract:
Increasingly omnipresent and powerful mobile technology has the potential to address long-standing issues in the healthcare sector. mHealth (mobile health) apps can be used by consumers or patients for their wellness, prevention or treatment management. This study explored the scale of awareness of mHealth apps and the perception of using mHealth apps for monitoring health in Mauritius. The study also explored the barriers they faced. The results have shown that the people of Mauritius are aware and have downloaded and used mHealth apps. Fitness seems to be important, as most of the respondents find the fitness training app most useful. The findings have also shown that biggest barrier that prevents the respondents from using a mHealth app is cost concerns and privacy or security. Hence, it is recommended that the cost of mobile apps be investigated. Furthermore, there should be communication from app creators about the benefits of using a particular app, as well as the security measures and protection of private users and their information.
Keywords: medical apps; Mauritius; health; fitness; wellness; mobile health apps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 M00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://jssidoi.org/jesi/uploads/articles/29/Cant_ ... xic_to_consumers.pdf (application/pdf)
https://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/678 (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ssi:jouesi:v:8:y:2020:i:1:p:1162-1176
DOI: 10.9770/jesi.2020.8.1(78)
Access Statistics for this article
Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues is currently edited by Manuela Tvaronaviciene
More articles in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues from VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Manuela Tvaronaviciene ().