Adoption of Health Mobile Apps during the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Health Belief Model Approach

Predicting m-health acceptance from the perspective of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology

Addressing the growing popularity of mobile health (m-Health) technology in the health industry, the current study examined consumers' intention and behaviour related to the usage of digital applications based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). In particular, this study quantitatively assessed the moderating role of perceived product value and mediating role of intention to use m-Health application among Indonesians. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from conveniently selected respondents through an online survey, which involved 2068 Telegram users in Indonesia. All data were subjected to the analysis of partial least square- structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The obtained results demonstrated the moderating effect of perceived product value on the relationship between intention to use m-Health application (m-health app) and actual usage of m-Health app and the mediating effects of intention to use m-Health app on the relationships of perceived critical mass, perceived usefulness, perceived convenience, perceived technology accuracy, and perceived privacy protection on actual usage of m-Health app. However, the intention to use m-Health app did not mediate the influence of health consciousness and health motivation on the actual usage of m-Health app. Overall, this study's findings on the significance of intention to use m-Health app and perceived product value based on the UTAUT framework serve as insightful guideline to expand the usage of m-Health app among consumers.

Health perceptions and attitudes on mobile health apps in China

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of mobile health apps has been increasing significantly. Many have started using mobile health apps to manage their health and well-being. People need to develop healthy habits that will increase their job productivity, life expectancy and improve their social relationships. This study tests the Health Belief Model with adults in China in influencing health motivation and in turn improving their health behavior. A mobile and online survey was developed, and 120 usable responses were collected. A structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships between perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers, health motivation, and health behavior. We found perceived self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived susceptibility predicts health motivation, and health motivation predicts health behavior. We did not find that perceived barrier is a predictor for health motivation. We conclude that to encourage behavioral change, it is important to enhance self-efficacy and address the benefits; in the meantime, educating people on susceptibility is also important.

The Perception of Health Care Practitioners Regarding Telemedicine During COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND

Telemedicine is a rapidly evolving field that uses information and communication technology to provide remote health care services, such as diagnosis, treatment, consultation, patient monitoring, and medication delivery. With advancements in technology, telemedicine has become increasingly popular during the COVID-19 lockdown and has expanded beyond remote consultations via telephone or video to include comprehensive and reliable services. The integration of telemedicine platforms can enable patients and health care providers to communicate more efficiently and effectively.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the awareness, knowledge, requirements, and perceptions of health care practitioners in Saudi Arabia during the pandemic health crisis from the end-user perspective. The findings of this study will inform policy makers regarding the sustainability of telemedicine and how it affects the process of provision of health care and improves the patients' journey.

METHODS

This study adopted a mixed methods design with a quantitative-based cross-sectional design and qualitative interviews to assess the perceptions of various health care professionals working in outpatient departments that have a telemedicine system that was used during the COVID-19 pandemic. For both approaches, ethics approval was obtained, and informed consent forms were signed. In total, 81 completed questionnaires were used in this study. In the second phase, general interviews were conducted with managerial staff and health care professionals to obtain their view of telemedicine services in their hospitals.

RESULTS

The study revealed that most participants (67/81, 83%) were familiar with telemedicine technology, and the study proved to be statistically significant at P<.05 with a proportion of the participants (52/81, 64%) believing that continuous training was essential for its effective use. The study also found that consultations (55/153, 35.9%) and monitoring patients (35/153, 22.9%) were the major components of telemedicine used by health care professionals, with telephones being the most commonly used mode of interaction with patients (74/117, 63.2%). In addition, 54% (44/81) of the respondents expressed concerns about patient privacy and confidentiality, highlighting this as a major issue. Furthermore, the majority of participants (58/81, 72%) reported the necessity of implementing national standards essential for telemedicine technology in Saudi Arabia. The interviews conducted as part of the study revealed 5 major themes: culture, barriers and difficulties, communication, implementation, and evaluation. These themes highlighted the importance of a culture of acceptance and flexibility, effective communication, and ongoing evaluation of telemedicine technologies in health care systems.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a crucial message with insights into the perceptions and experiences of health care professionals with telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

A cross-sectional study factors associated with resilience among medical staff in radiology departments during COVID-19, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to assess the level of resilience of medical workers in radiology departments in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the COVID-19 outbreak and to explore associated factors.

SETTING

Medical staff, including nurses, technicians, radiology specialists and physicians, working in radiology departments at government hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 outbreak.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

PARTICIPANTS

The study was conducted among 375 medical workers in radiology departments in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The data collection took place from 15 February 2022 to 31 March 2022.

RESULTS

The total resilience score was 29.37±6.760 and the scores of each dimension showed that the higher mean score was observed in the domain of 'flexibility', while the lowest was observed in 'maintaining attention under stress'. Pearson's correlation analysis showed that there was a significant negative correlation between resilience and perceived stress (r=-0.498, p<0.001). Finally, based on multiple linear regression analysis, factors affecting resilience among participants are the availability of psychological hotline (available, B=2.604, p<0.050), knowledge of COVID-19 protective measures (part of understanding, B=-5.283, p<0.001), availability of adequate protective materials (partial shortage, B=-2.237, p<0.050), stress (B=-0.837, p<0.001) and education (postgraduate, B=-1.812, p<0.050).

CONCLUSIONS

This study sheds light on the level of resilience and the factors that contribute to resilience in radiology medical staff. Moderate levels of resilience call for health administrators to focus on developing strategies that can effectively help cope with workplace adversities.

Comment on Alharbi et al. Adoption of Health Mobile Apps during the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Health Belief Model Approach. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 4179

Alharbi and colleagues' article, "Adoption of health mobile apps during the COVID-19 lockdown: a Health Belief Model approach", was interesting, well-written, and informative [...].

Community Services and Social Involvement in COVID-19 Governance: Evidence from China

This study explores how the services provided by different types of Chinese communities varied in their impact on the social involvement of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature revealed problems caused by travel restrictions, including using oversimplified measures for grassroots governance, which might result in decreased residents' social involvement during COVID-19. We argue that the services provided by "smart communities" in China not only adhered to the COVID-19 pandemic governance, but also promoted the social involvement of residents. Using a case study approach of the smart community Fang Xing and the traditional community Qili Tang, both of which are located in China, this article compared the traditional and smart community services based on 122 interviews with residents and frontline community staff members. The findings suggest that while the traditional community decreased the residents' social involvement by restricting certain services during the pandemic, the smart community was able to apply COVID-19 governance measures, considerably increasing the residents' social involvement. It offered an attractive option for residents to act as community service managers, and it prepared them for local-level pandemic governance. This study provides an understanding of the relationship between the community services and the residents' social involvement in terms of the community services. The smart community model can act as a reference for international community development during pandemic governance.

Effects of personalization and source expertise on users' health beliefs and usage intention toward health chatbots: Evidence from an online experiment

Objective

Based on the heuristic–systematic model (HSM) and health belief model (HBM), this study aims to investigate how personalization and source expertise in responses from a health chatbot influence users’ health belief-related factors (i.e. perceived benefits, self-efficacy and privacy concerns) as well as usage intention.

Methods

A 2 (personalization vs. non-personalization) × 2 (source expertise vs. non-source expertise) online between-subject experiment was designed. Participants were recruited in China between April and May 2021. Data from 260 valid observations were used for the data analysis.

Results

Source expertise moderated the effects of personalization on health belief factors. Perceived benefits and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between personalization and usage intention when the source expertise cue was presented. However, the privacy concerns were not influenced by personalization and source expertise and did not significantly affect usage intention toward the health chatbot.

Discussion

This study verified that in the health chatbot context, source expertise as a heuristic cue may be a necessary condition for effects of the systematic cue (i.e. personalization), which supports the HSM's arguments. By introducing the HBM in the chatbot experiment, this study is expected to provide new insights into the acceptance of healthcare AI consulting services.