title: Use of appropriate healthcare technologies: a cross-sectional study in rural Zhejiang of China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Appropriate healthcare technologies (AHTs) are an important strategy for improving the availability and accessibility of healthcare services. It is not clear what impact AHTs have on health workers and consumers; and whether those AHTs can continue in place without special or ongoing financial support. This study investigated the attitudes of health workers and consumers towards AHTs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health facilities from five counties in Zhejiang were surveyed. Participants of the study included all health workers who were involved in the delivery of AHTs in the selected organizations and a group of randomly selected patients who sought services from the participating organizations. A total of 822 questionnaires from health workers and 693 questionnaires from patients were collected for data analyses. The questionnaires measured perceptions and attitudes of respondents towards AHTs using a Likert scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The respondents delivering public health services rated the highest scores to AHTs (4.42 ± 0.7), followed by those engaged in management of chronic conditions (4.41 ± 0.57) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (4.29 ± 0.55). Around 90% of health workers believed that AHTs were meaningful for rural patients; however, only 69% of health workers believed that the technologies encouraged by the government were sufficiently developed or "mature", and more than 24% acknowledged difficulties in using those technologies. Overall, patients were satisfied with AHTs, with 71.6% feeling "very satisfied" or "satisfied", 24.2% feeling "acceptable" and 1.6% feeling "dissatisfied". Most (83%) patients were satisfied or very satisfied with Traditional Chinese Medicine, compared with management of chronic conditions (80%), family planning (67%), public health services (64%), and finally with maternal and child health care (59%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Local acceptability should be taken into consideration in determination of AHTs; consumer health literacy needs improvement, particularly in relation to public health and preventive services.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310036, China. rjp9999@163.com.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: School of Management, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, Hubei, 430065, China. c.liu@latrobe.edu.au.|School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 3086, Australia. c.liu@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Chaojie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Zhejiang Higher Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310036, China. mooshaa@163.com.
authors.forename: Qi-Sheng
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430030, China. lpyang@hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lianping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310036, China. hxh974291@163.com.
authors.forename: Xianhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310036, China. hznurjp@163.com.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020811:Biomedical Technology; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health; D019035:Rural Health Services; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States