title: Prevalence of mobile phones and factors influencing usage by caregivers of young children in daily life and for health care in rural China: a mixed methods study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To capitalise on mHealth, we need to understand the use of mobile phones both in daily life and for health care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence and factors that influence usage of mobile phones by caregivers of young children.
  
  
  METHODS
  A mixed methods approach was used, whereby a survey (N=1854) and semi-structured interviews (N=17) were conducted concurrently. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained were compared and integrated. Participants were caregivers of young children in Zhao County, Hebei Province, China.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four main themes were found: (i) trends in mobile phone ownership; (ii) usage of mobile phone functions; (iii) factors influencing replying to text messages; and (iv) uses of mobile phones for health care. The majority of 1,854 survey participants (1,620; 87.4%) used mobile phones, but usage was much higher among mothers (1,433; 92.6%) and fathers (41; 100.0%) compared to grandparents (142; 54.6%). Parents were able to send text messages, grandparents often not. Factors influencing the decision to reply to text messages in daily life were checking the mobile phone, trusting the sender, emotion or feeling when receiving a text message, the importance of replying and ease of use of text messages. Of 1,620 survey participants who used a mobile phone, about one in four (432; 26.7%) had used it for health care in the past three months and most (1,110; 93.5%) of 1,187 who had not wished to use their phone to receive health information.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that usage of mobile phones is high, several factors influencing usage and an interest of caregivers to use phones for health care in Zhao County, rural China, which can be used to inform studies in settings with similar characteristics. Future work needs to assess factors influencing mobile phone usage in-depth to optimize experiences of users for specific mHealth-based interventions.
authors: Global eHealth Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Michelle Helena
authors: MH
authors: van Velthoven
authors: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors: Ye
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors: Xiaozhen
authors: X
authors: Du
authors: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors: Qiong
authors: Q
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Paediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors: Yanfeng
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Centre for Population Health Sciences and Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors: Igor
authors: I
authors: Rudan
authors: Global eHealth Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Josip
authors: J
authors: Car
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002681:China; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012424:Rural Population; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult