Changing data practices for community health workers
Joyojeet Pal, Anjuli Dasika, Ahmad Fuad Hasan, Jackie Wolf, Nick C. H. Reid, Vaishnav Kameswaran, Purva Yardi, Allyson Mackay, Abram Luther Wagner, Bhramar Mukherjee, Sucheta Joshi, Sujay Santra, Priyamvada Pandey · 2017
In this paper, we present our findings on the experiences of West Bengal Community Health Workers (CHWs) in transitioning from paper to tablet- and mobile-based data collection. Through qualitative interviews, usability testing and timed observations, we found that efficiency and quality of data collected were comparable between the use of tablet devices and traditional paper methods, but data collection performed on smaller mobile phone interfaces was less efficient compared to paper. There was no significant difference in the quality of data collected across all three modes. In terms of work practices, we found that while initial interactions with CHWs suggested positive feelings about switching to digital devices, in their actual practices they retained and preferred the use of paper, and had workarounds to circumvent the digital data collection process. While there were foreseeable challenges around individual user experience, such as device familiarity, and application interface flexibility, the more compelling challenge in transitioning CHWs to digital data collection was organizational. The agency of CHWs within organizations, the levels of training with both data practices and devices themselves, and the sense of comfort that the data collectors felt with the overall project emerge as important factors of attention for implementers of new data management practices.