eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality?

Mahou, Xosé; Barral, Bran; Fernández, Ángela; Bouzas-Lorenzo, Ramón; Cernadas, Andrés

doi:10.3390/ijerph182413055

Open AccessArticle

eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality?

by

Xosé Mahou

¹,

Bran Barral

²

,

Ángela Fernández

¹,

Ramón Bouzas-Lorenzo

² and

Andrés Cernadas

^2,*

¹

Department of Political Science and Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication, University of Vigo, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain

²

Department of Political Science and Sociology, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13055; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413055

Submission received: 29 October 2021 / Revised: 28 November 2021 / Accepted: 8 December 2021 / Published: 10 December 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Health, Social and Economic Impact of mHealth in Low- and Middle-income Countries)

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Abstract

In the last decades, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has progressively spread to society and public administration. Health is one of the areas in which the use of ICTs has more intensively developed through what is now known as eHealth. That area has recently included mHealth. Spanish health system has stood out as one of the benchmarks of this technological revolution. The development of ICTs applied to health, especially since the outbreak of the pandemic caused by SARS Cov-2, has increased the range of health services delivered through smartphones and the development of subsequent specialized apps. Based on the data of a Survey on Use and Attitudes regarding eHealth in Spain, the aim of this research was to conduct a comparative analysis of the different eHealth and mHealth user profiles. The results show that the user profile of eHealth an mHealth services in Spain is not in a majority. Weaknesses are detected both in the knowledge and use of eHealth services among the general population and in the usability or development of their mobile version. Smartphones can be a democratizing vector, as for now, access to eHealth services is only available to wealthy people, widening inequality.

Keywords: eHealth; mHealth; telemedicine; Spanish national health system; health policy; health equity; public policy; healthcare disparities

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MDPI and ACS Style

Mahou, X.; Barral, B.; Fernández, Á.; Bouzas-Lorenzo, R.; Cernadas, A. eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 13055. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413055

AMA Style

Mahou X, Barral B, Fernández Á, Bouzas-Lorenzo R, Cernadas A. eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(24):13055. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413055

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mahou, Xosé, Bran Barral, Ángela Fernández, Ramón Bouzas-Lorenzo, and Andrés Cernadas. 2021. "eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality?" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 24: 13055. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413055

APA Style

Mahou, X., Barral, B., Fernández, Á., Bouzas-Lorenzo, R., & Cernadas, A. (2021). eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(24), 13055. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413055

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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eHealth and mHealth Development in Spain: Promise or Reality?

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