Acceptability of using mobile Health (mHealth) as an intervention tool for People with Drug Use Disorders in Tanga, Tanzania.

Background: With the increasing numbers of people with drug use disorders (PWDUD) in Tanzania as in other parts of the world the need for innovative interventions specifically tailored for this population has increased. Tanga, a coastal region on the Northeast of Tanzania has the second highest number of PWDUD in Tanzania. Evidence on the additional benefit in treatment and recovery process among PWDUD using digital health interventions is lacking. This study aimed to describe the acceptability of using a digital intervention to increase information access for PWDUD in Tanga region, Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study using both quantitative and qualitative approaches was conducted in Tanga Municipality and Muheza District. The quantitative approach used face to face interviews with a pre-tested questionnaire with 465 participants, while the quantitative method was carried out through In-Depth Interviews with 12 participants by the saturation point. Analysis was done descriptively to generate frequencies, cross tabulations, and chi-square test used to examine associations between categorical variables. Thematic analysis using codes was used to analyze qualitative data. Results: Majority of the PWDUD 67.6% do not own mobile phones. Out of the 156 participants with mobile phones, only 6.4% owned a smartphone. Most of the participants, 83.6%, reported to live with someone who owns a mobile phone. Importantly, a significant number of participants, 98.5% from both areas showed readiness to use mobile phones to access information about the harmful use of substance and substance use disorder treatment options. Participants described how mobile phones can be useful to them in accessing information related to treatment and access to treatment options. The reasons they gave for not owning mobile phones included the need of money to buy drugs and the lack of money to buy credit drives them to sell their phones. A digital app called Huru app was developed during study as part of an information sharing campaign on substance use. Conclusion and recommendations: The findings of this study helped to inform the target audience for the developed Huru app that should not be only PWDUD but the community at large. Despite the participants having expressed high readiness to use mobile phones to access drug use disorder treatment information, only few of them were found to own mobile phones but reported to live with family members who own mobile phones. Thus, a mobile phone intervention should also target their family members who are key in supportive treatment.