Abstract:
The objective of the study was to determine the effect of techno stress among health workers at
Meru Regional Referral Hospital in Arusha, the study used purposive; the method of data
collection was the survey method whereby a quantitative approach was used for data analysis.
The major research instrument used for the research was the Questionnaire and data was
analysed using SPSS following the research questions and the analysed data was presented in
tables with frequencies and percentages.
The researcher aimed at establishing the major factors that cause techno stress among Mount
Meru Regional Referral Hospital staff and the factors that were strongly agreed by many
respondents as a cause of techno stress at MRRH staff was poor internet connectivity 22(73 %)
and unreliable power supply 19(63%), lack of qualified IT/ICT specialists for troubleshooting and
technical support 15(50%), technical problems 14(47%), lack of knowledge about new technology
and computers among MRRH staff 12( 40%), negative attitude towards computer use among
MRRH staff 10( 33%).
From the study findings and the reviewed literature it can be recommended that there are various
factors that are causing techno stress among MRRH staff, some of which are considered to be
major factors and some not. These factors can be grouped into three categories including human
resource factors concerned with the capacity of the qualified IT staff, management factors
concerned with all administrative issues including financial resources, decision making, rewards
and training and lastly the factors related to technology itself including complexity of IT
terminologies, pace of technological change and technical support. The Ministry of Health and
MRRH management should make sure that staff are empowered to cope with the changing
technology so that technostress among health workers are reduced if not eliminated at all.
