Evaluating the adoption of a mobile application for quality-of-care assessments in South Sudan using Rogers’ innovation diffusion theory

Introduction: The Health Pooled Fund (HPF) in South Sudan introduced the HPF Quality-of-Care (QoC) Application (App) in 2019 to improve healthcare quality monitoring and evaluation. The App allowed direct data entry at health facilities (HFs) and provided cloud storage for remote access and analysis. The App adoption can be understood through Everett Rogers’ Innovations Diffusion Theory (IDT), which explains how new ideas and technologies spread through societies. This study evaluated the QoC App adoption in South Sudan, using Rogers’ IDT to understand the factors influencing adoption, and identify successes and challenges in low-resource healthcare settings. Method: This study analysed QoC assessment data from HPF-supported HFs from 2019 to 2021, using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to identify the trends and factors influencing adoption, based on Rogers’ IDT. Results: The study found that QoC App adoption significantly increased the proportion of HFs assessed from 39% in the first quarter when it was introduced, to 92.2% seven quarters later. The adoption of this innovation aligned with Rogers’ IDT. Conclusion: The successful implementation of the HPF QoC App demonstrates the practical application of Rogers’ IDT in a low-resource healthcare setting. The effective use of this App in South Sudan’s healthcare system has demonstrated digital health potential for future public health innovations and technology adoption process.