Interesting Research Reveals Some Interesting Information Regarding Digital Health Users.

This appeared last week:

Personal data concerns stymie digital health initiatives

By Matt Johnston on Feb 26, 2020 6:26AM

Coupled with lengthy registration processes.

Research out of Curtin University has found that poor registration processes and concerns over data governance could be the biggest obstacle in getting consumers on board with digital health initiatives.

Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study underlines the need for improved public understanding of data security and increased transparency by health app managers, lead researcher David Lim said.

Lim, from Curtin’s School of Public Health, added that the research also identified a number of characteristics linked to users’ willingness to adopt digital health technologies, with those with the highest education levels most willing to use health apps.

However, this group also had the strongest expectations around data governance and had strong negative associations with apps implemented by private consultancy firms or with little governance structure.

The second most willing subgroup identified in the research were those without chronic medical conditions, whose attitude towards the apps were shaped by a reduction in the risk of medical errors.

As social media highlighted during the opt-out period of the My Health Record rollout, many people with chronic health conditions were vocally against the notion of digital health apps that could negatively impact on their ability to gain an unbiased second opinion from independent healthcare sources.

More here:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/personal-data-concerns-stymie-digital-health-initiatives-538537

Here is the abstract:

Consumer preference to utilise a mobile health app: A stated preference experiment

• David Lim ,
• Richard Norman,
• Suzanne Robinson

• Published: February 21, 2020
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229546

Abstract

Background

One prominent barrier faced by healthcare consumers when accessing health services is a common requirement to complete repetitive, inefficient paper-based documentation at multiple registration sites. Digital innovation has a potential role to reduce the burden in this area, through the collection and sharing of data between healthcare providers. While there is growing evidence for digital innovations to potentially improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health systems, there is less information on the willingness of healthcare consumers to embrace and utilise technology to provide data.

Aim

The study aims to improve understanding of consumers’ preference for utilising a digital health administration mobile app.

Methods

The online study used a stated preference experiment design to explore aspects of consumers’ preference for a mobile health administration app and its impact on the likelihood of using the app. The survey was answered by a representative sample (by age and gender) of Australian adults, and sociodemographic factors were also recorded for analysis. Each participant answered eight choice sets in which a hypothetical app (defined by a set of dimensions and levels) was presented and the respondent was asked if they would be willing to provide data using that app. Analysis was conducted using bivariate logistic regression.

Results

For the average respondent, the two most important dimensions were the time it took to register on the app and the electronic governance arrangements around their personal information. Willingness to use any app was found to differ based on respondent characteristics: people with higher education, and women, were relatively more willing to utilise the mobile health app.

Conclusion

This study investigated consumers’ willingness to utilise a digital health administration mobile app. The identification of key characteristics of more acceptable apps provide valuable insight and recommendations for developers of similar digital health administration technologies. This would increase the likelihood of achieving successful acceptance and utilisation by consumers. The results from this study provide evidence-based recommendations for future research and policy development, planning and implementation of digital health administration mobile applications in Australia.

Here is the link:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0229546 (article is freely accessible)

Fascinating, and needing to be repeated more broadly I believe, as it seems that many of the target users of systems like the #myHR may not be able or inclined to use them for reasons of perceived security and / or privacy.

I found the gender and educational stratification intriguing.

This sort of research should inform any new attempts to deploy and utilise national electronic health record systems.

David.