title: Perceptions and knowledge toward mobile-health among the college going students in Coastal South India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Among the manifold uses of mobile phones, mobile-health (mHealth) has been an important one, which is the practice of public health initiatives by awareness raising and communication campaigns. Optimum utilization of mHealth is possible only through adequate awareness. Hence, we aimed to study the perceptions and knowledge about mHealth among college going students in Mangalore, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2014 among 627 students in selected engineering (302 students) and medical colleges (325 students) in Mangalore, India. Colleges were selected using convenience sampling (nonrandom) method. Data were collected using semi-structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 48.9% were males, 61.4% belonged to 18-20 years age group. The awareness about mobile phone health utilities among medical and engineering students was found to be similar. Among those who were aware of the concept of mHealth (74 [11.2%]), 40 (54.1%) were medical students. Marginally higher proportion of medical students felt mHealth could be helpful in protecting the patients' confidentiality and would help in better communication with the patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was high level of general awareness about mHealth among the subjects. However, many specific areas had limited knowledge among both the streams of students, hence highlighting the need for increasing awareness and sensitization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Prasanna Mithra
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Parthaje
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Bhaskaran
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Unnikrishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Rekha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thapar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Nithin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Elizabeth Josy
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Panikulam
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geroge
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Prajwal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Vaman
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holla
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Bhagwan Bhagyamma
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Darshan
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Avinash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Rohil
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Ratna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jay
keywords: Knowledge; South India; mHealth; mobile phones; perceptions; students