Barriers to the utilization of the Sehaty mobile health application in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional survey of non-healthcare users

• DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1554078
• Publication Date: 2025-04-09T05:20:06Z
• Authors: Haitham Alzghaibi
• Keywords: Cross-sectional study

Mobile health (mHealth) applications have the potential to enhance healthcare accessibility and management. However, several barriers continue hinder their widespread adoption. In Saudi Arabia, Sehaty app plays a critical role in national digital efforts, yet little is known about challenges faced by non-healthcare users. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 403 users of app. Data were collected using structured, validated questionnaire assessing ten categories barriers: technical limitations, usability challenges, constraints, privacy security concerns, communication interaction difficulties, functionality restrictions, user satisfaction deficits, cost-related issues, time productivity inadequate support training. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, group comparisons one-way ANOVA t-tests performed. Technical issues such as frequent crashes slow response times reported most prominent barriers, significantly affecting satisfaction. Usability including unintuitive navigation, also widely reported. Privacy concerns-particularly regarding transparency data protection-were major deterrents use. Accessibility constraints more pronounced older adults those with disabilities, often compounded limited Time inefficiencies further reduced engagement. Cost-related minimal. Correlation analysis revealed strong associations technical, usability, while demographic showed no significant differences across groups. The findings underscore need for comprehensive improvements app's reliability, security, accessibility. Addressing these through optimisation, user-centred design, enhanced protection, targeted training can broader adoption align development Arabia's Vision 2030 goals.