Wu Tailai, Deng Zhaohua, Chen Zhuo, Zhang Donglan, Wang Ruoxi, Wu Xiang
School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2019 Jun 7;21(6):e13693. doi: 10.2196/13693.
Web-based health communities provide opportunities for doctors and patients to interact with each other and change the traditional communication mode between doctors and patients. However, little is known about the predictors of patients' intention to interact with doctors in Web-based health communities in China.
The purpose of this study was to investigate what are the predictors of patients' intention to interact with doctors in Web-based health communities in China.
On the basis of two-factor theory and service convenience theory, we propose that the attributes of Web-based health communities including ease of use and perceived synchronicity influence patients' intention to interact through convenience of Web-based health communities, whereas the attributes of physical health facilities such as inaccessibility and discontinuity affect patients' intention to interact through inconvenience of physical health facilities. We employed the survey method to validate our hypothesized relationships. Through developing the measurement instruments, we collected 334 valid answers from Web health community users and utilized partial least square to analyze the data.
Ease of use (t=2.924, P=.004) and perceived synchronicity (t=2.353, P=.019) were found to influence convenience of Web-based health communities significantly, whereas inaccessibility (t=3.189, P=.002) and discontinuity (t=3.149, P=.002) were found to impact inconvenience of physical health facilities significantly. Meanwhile, both convenience of Web-based health communities (t=2.353, P=.019) and inconvenience of physical health facilities (t=2.787, P=.006) were found to affect patients' intention to interact with doctors in Web-based health communities significantly. Therefore, all the proposed hypotheses were supported.
Through including factors from both Web-based health communities and physical health facilities, we can understand patients' intention to interact comprehensively. This study not only contributes to literature of doctor-patient interaction and Web-based health platforms but also provides implications to promote doctor-patient interaction online and offline.
基于网络的健康社区为医生和患者提供了相互交流的机会，改变了传统的医患沟通模式。然而，对于中国基于网络的健康社区中患者与医生互动意愿的预测因素，人们了解甚少。
本研究旨在调查中国基于网络的健康社区中患者与医生互动意愿的预测因素有哪些。
基于双因素理论和服务便利理论，我们提出基于网络的健康社区的属性，包括易用性和感知同步性，通过基于网络的健康社区的便利性影响患者的互动意愿，而身体健康设施的属性，如不可及性和不连续性，则通过身体健康设施的不便性影响患者的互动意愿。我们采用调查方法来验证我们假设的关系。通过开发测量工具，我们从网络健康社区用户那里收集了334份有效答案，并利用偏最小二乘法对数据进行分析。
发现易用性（t=2.924，P=0.004）和感知同步性（t=2.353，P=0.019）对基于网络的健康社区的便利性有显著影响，而不可及性（t=3.189，P=0.002）和不连续性（t=3.149，P=0.002）对身体健康设施的不便性有显著影响。同时，发现基于网络的健康社区的便利性（t=2.353，P=0.019）和身体健康设施的不便性（t=2.787，P=0.006）均对患者在基于网络的健康社区中与医生互动的意愿有显著影响。因此，所有提出的假设均得到支持。
通过纳入基于网络的健康社区和身体健康设施两方面的因素，我们可以全面理解患者的互动意愿。本研究不仅对医患互动和基于网络的健康平台的文献有贡献，也为促进线上和线下的医患互动提供了启示。
