# iRise: Willingness of Low-and Middle-Income Country-based Health Workers to Respond to Public Health Emergencies and Disasters - an mHealth Intervention Study

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $188,446

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Healthcare workers’ (HCWs’) willingness to report to work in pandemics and other public health emergencies
and disasters is a foundational prerequisite for national, regional and global health security amidst an ever-
broadening array of natural and manmade emergent threats. Well-documented case reports and research point
to significant and concerning gaps in response willingness toward public health emergencies and disasters,
including among low- and middle- income country (LMIC)-based HCWs. Further, research to date in LMIC
and other settings has highlighted HCWs’ self-efficacy as leading predictor of their willingness to respond
(WTR) during such crises. Higher levels of self-efficacy positively influence motivation, willingness to respond
and take action, and to persevere when challenges are encountered, including exhibiting teamwork,
expressing sensitivity, managing politics and handling pressure. Prior studies by membership of the research
team have been accompanied by training interventions that yielded significant increases in self-efficacy, and
attendant WTR, among frontline HCWs. However, this training was designed to be in-person and several
hours long, which presents a difficult logistical challenge for busy Emergency Department HCWs. Could
mobile health (mHealth) technology offer an efficient approach to training and support to enhance self-efficacy and
increase WTR among LMIC-based HCWs? To the very best of our knowledge, there has never been a mHealth
product or intervention to address self-efficacy and WTR. Accordingly, this gap presents an opportunity to
generate a novel mHealth application to enhance frontline LMIC-based healthcare workers' self-efficacy and
WTR during public health emergencies and disasters. By extension, such a mHealth intervention could
strengthen staffing surge capacity in resource-challenged health systems in LMICs, and thus shore up critical
gaps in health security.
The study's purpose is first to assess the feasibility of strengthening self-efficacy and response willingness
toward public health emergencies, including pandemics, and disasters in emergency department clinical
personnel in a LMIC setting (R21); and, if feasible, carry out a trial to confirm the effectiveness of the approach
on outcomes (R33) [see below] in Karachi, Pakistan. Our R21-component specific aims (SA) are:
SA1: Characterize and measure LMIC-based emergency medicine healthcare workers' (HCWs') baseline self-
efficacy toward fulfillment of work-related roles and expectations in pandemics and other public health
emergencies and disasters, and their attendant perceptions regarding willingness to respond in such contexts.
SA2: Develop and pilot-test a novel mHealth intervention (iRise ["intervention (for) response in significant
emergencies"]) among a group of LMIC-based emergency department HCWs to determine its acceptability,
reliability, and perceived usefulness in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner for bus...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10470898
- **Project number:** 5R21TW012210-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Nargis Asad
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $188,446
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-10 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10470898

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10470898, iRise: Willingness of Low-and Middle-Income Country-based Health Workers to Respond to Public Health Emergencies and Disasters - an mHealth Intervention Study (5R21TW012210-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10470898. Licensed CC0.

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