Healthcare Practitioners’ Perceptions of mHealth Application Barriers: Challenges to Adoption and Strategies for Enhancing Digital Health Integration
Haitham Alzghaibi
Abstract
Background: Mobile health (mHealth) applications have transformed healthcare delivery by enhancing accessibility, patient monitoring, and clinician communication. Despite these advantages, significant barriers hinder their adoption among healthcare practitioners, limiting their effectiveness in primary care settings. Understanding these barriers is crucial for optimizing mHealth integration into healthcare systems. Aim: This study examines healthcare practitioners’ perceptions of barriers to mHealth application adoption, with a focus on the Sehaty app (version 1.3) in Saudi Arabia. It aims to identify key challenges, assess their impact on user engagement and system efficiency, and provide insights for enhancing digital health implementation. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 409 primary healthcare practitioners using the Sehaty app. The study employed a structured questionnaire assessing ten major barriers to mHealth adoption, including technical, usability, privacy, and integration challenges. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-tests, and correlation analyses were performed to examine differences across demographic groups and relationships among identified barriers. Results: Findings revealed that technical and usability challenges were the most significant barriers, with system compatibility (Mean = 3.64), slow performance (Mean = 3.43), and excessive task complexity (Mean = 3.45) among the most cited issues. Training and support limitations (Mean = 3.28) and workflow integration difficulties (Mean = 3.24) further hindered adoption. Correlation analysis indicated weak interdependencies among barriers, suggesting that targeted interventions addressing specific concerns may be more effective. ANOVA results showed that digital literacy significantly influenced perceptions of communication barriers (p = 0.046), while gender differences in usability and productivity constraints were marginally significant. Conclusions: The study underscores the necessity for improved system interoperability, user-centered design, and enhanced technical support to promote mHealth adoption. Addressing these challenges through strategic policy initiatives and infrastructure improvements is essential for fostering a more integrated and effective digital healthcare ecosystem.