Developing an Omaha System-based health application to improve knowledge, attitude, and behaviors regarding infectious disease prevention in the community: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases remain significant public health concerns due to several factors such as climate and environmental changes and natural disasters. Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) can be an appropriate way for fostering community participation, disseminating knowledge, and promoting behavior change toward infectious disease prevention. This study aims to describe a protocol to evaluate the impact of the Omaha System-Based mHealth app (BUHOS) on improving knowledge, attitude, and behaviors (KAB) regarding infectious disease prevention in an earthquake-affected region of Türkiye. After earthquakes, increases can be observed in many infectious diseases such as water-borne, food-borne, vector-borne infections and respiratory infections. METHODS: This study is a two-armed, parallel-group, single-blind, superiority randomized controlled trial. A total of 112 eligible participants will be recruited from two separate container cities in the earthquake-affected Hatay Province of Türkiye. These participants will be randomly allocated to either an intervention group or a control group. BUHOS will be designed based on the Omaha System, a widely recognized standardized taxonomy for the assessment, planning, and evaluation of healthcare services. BUHOS will include a two-week nursing intervention that will improve KAB employing Education (education videos), Surveillance (reminder messages), and assessing the outcomes. Outcome variables will be evaluated with the Problem Rating Scale for Outcomes, Community Communicable Diseases Knowledge Survey, Communicable Diseases Risk Awareness and Protection Scale and System Usability Scale. Outcome variables will be assessed on the 15th and 30th day after the intervention. DISCUSSION: Mobile apps appear to be potential tools for improving KAB regarding infectious diseases. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app (BUHOS) aiming to improve KAB regarding infectious disease prevention in an earthquake-affected region of Türkiye. The main strength of this study is the development of an Omaha System-based mHealth app to improve KAB of infectious diseases in the community. If the BUHOS is shown to be effective in enhancing KAB regarding infectious disease prevention among the population in an earthquake-affected region, it may offer potential benefits for other vulnerable communities in terms of infectious disease prevention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The protocol was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier Number: NCT07048301, Registration Date: 02 July 2025).