Presentation of health data and user acceptance of a District health information system

Abstract

This thesis studies the Health Management Information System (HMIS) and District Health Information System (DHIS 2) focusing on its report formats. It examines the need of improvement on the aspect of its data presentation. It also explores the user acceptance of DHIS 2 software. The focus of this thesis is on following research question: 1. How do presentation of report formats can be best performed so that it contributes to user acceptance of the DHIS 2 software?

This thesis is based upon the fieldwork that I had done in Kerala, the southern state of India. I worked there for five month from September 2008 to January 2009. During my stay with Health Information System Program (HISP) in Kerala, I participated in conducting 3 training sessions for health workers, where we introduce DHIS 2 software. Also a field visit was made in a Community Health Centre (CHC) where DHIS 2 is being used. These trainings and field visit serves as the main source of data collection in this thesis. As I have done most of my observations and interviews on that occasion for data collection.

The findings show that there are still places in DHIS 2 where we can improve in its report formats. I have figured out the places for improvement in various screen presented by DHIS 2 for report generation. And user acceptance of DHIS 2 was examined for its users in Kerala, which is positive for this new system. I have also put my experiences and learning form fieldwork and overall 2 years course at University of Oslo, in this thesis.

This thesis aims to suggest improvements in DHIS 2 software for its successful implementation in the field. It is not possible for me to modify the data presentation of report formats in DHIS 2 software and perform test with the users in limited time period. So, I seek it as limitation in this thesis.

Therefore, the further work to be carried out in future is to evaluate the DHIS 2 software with proper modification done. This will contribute in the success of the software.