Syrian Refugees and Digital Health in Lebanon: Opportunities for Improving
Antenatal Health
Vulnerable Populations and Technological Support
/
Talhouk, Reem
/
Mesmar, Sandra
/
Thieme, Anja
/
Balaam, Madeline
/
Olivier, Patrick
/
Akik, Chaza
/
Ghattas, Hala
Proceedings of the ACM CHI'16 Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems
2016-05-07
v.1
p.331-342
© Copyright 2016 ACM
Summary: There are currently over 1.1 million Syrian refugees in need of healthcare
services from an already overstretched Lebanese healthcare system. Access to
antenatal care (ANC) services presents a particular challenge. We conducted
focus groups with 59 refugees in rural Lebanon to identify contextual and
cultural factors that can inform the design of digital technologies to support
refugee ANC. Previously identified high utilization of smartphones by the
refugee population offers a particular opportunity for using digital technology
to support access to ANC as well as health advocacy. Our findings revealed a
number of considerations that should be taken into account in the design of
refugee ANC technologies, including: refugee health beliefs and experiences,
literacy levels, refugee perceptions of negative attitudes of healthcare
providers, and hierarchal and familial structures.
