eHealth consumer adoption intent: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine key consumer evaluators

Abstract

Background: eHealth includes technologies such as telemedicine, electronic prescriptions, patient care orders, and support services and has been described as healthcare which is provided, enabled, or enhanced through electronic means. Purpose: Increasing burdens on our healthcare system have led practitioners and researchers to examine such technologies as a means of alleviating these growing burdens. By identifying the variables which most drive consumer adoption intent, programs and policies may be developed to address and enhance consumer concerns. Given the high costs of developing eHealth programs, the mitigating measures of understanding the consumer drivers become increasingly important. Methods/Results: Two qualitative studies were conducted examining consumer attitudes towards eHealth on a variety of topics including benefits and risks, social drivers, and selfefficacy. Ongoing evaluation of the results from these behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs indicate a softening of consumer opinions towards services especially were the veracity and familiarity of the information source is known. Conclusions: A growing prevalence of technology in our society seems to be creating a culture that is gaining greater comfort with using these methods to enable and enhance current service offering in a number of ways. As healthcare is an area of greater potential risk and increased personal information, policy makers, healthcare providers and program developers must remain cautious of trust, accuracy and privacy issues.