Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration-Yanbu, Taibah University, Medina 42353, Saudi Arabia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 3;19(7):4289. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074289.
Introduction: There has been an increase in the adoption of eHealth technologies and applications by health consumers globally because of the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years. The sudden change in the users’ attitudes toward eHealth adoption needs to be critically evaluated and understood, as it can be the stepping stone toward rapid digitalization of healthcare operations in Saudi Arabia as a part of Vision 2030. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of the patients with chronic diseases toward eHealth applications in post-COVID times. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adopted using the online questionnaire as a data collection instrument. All the health consumers using eHealth services aged above 18 years and living in Saudi Arabia were included in the survey. The survey was conducted for 3 weeks, resulting in a final sample of 234 participants. Results: Overall, 73.8% of the participants stated that they adopted eHealth only out of necessity, while 37.3% stated that they adopted it because no other services were available. Only 10.3% stated that they adopted eHealth out of interest. In relation to the future use of eHealth, 51.5% of the participants stated that they would definitely not use eHealth applications, and 33.6% stated that they would probably them once the pandemic ends. Only 4.4% of the participants stated that they would very much probably, and 10.5% stated they would probably not use eHealth applications once the pandemic ends. a significant difference in opinions in relation to the future adoption of eHealth applications was observed among the male and female participants, and also between the age groups of younger (age <35 years) and older (age ≥35 years) participants. Conclusions: For the change in attitudes (increased adoption of eHealth) to be sustained, policymakers need to develop relevant strategies promoting the use of eHealth in Saudi Arabia.
由于过去两年 COVID-19 大流行带来的限制，健康消费者在全球范围内对电子健康技术和应用的采用率有所增加。用户对电子健康采用态度的突然变化需要进行批判性评估和理解，因为这可能是沙特阿拉伯医疗保健运营快速数字化的踏脚石，这是 2030 愿景的一部分。目的：本研究旨在评估慢性病患者在 COVID-19 后对电子健康应用的态度。方法：采用横断面研究设计，使用在线问卷作为数据收集工具。所有年龄在 18 岁以上、居住在沙特阿拉伯的使用电子健康服务的健康消费者都被纳入调查。调查持续了 3 周，最终样本为 234 名参与者。结果：总体而言，73.8%的参与者表示他们采用电子健康只是出于必要，而 37.3%的参与者表示他们采用电子健康是因为没有其他服务可用。只有 10.3%的参与者表示他们出于兴趣采用电子健康。关于未来使用电子健康，51.5%的参与者表示他们肯定不会使用电子健康应用程序，33.6%的参与者表示一旦大流行结束，他们可能会使用它们。只有 4.4%的参与者表示他们非常可能，而 10.5%的参与者表示一旦大流行结束，他们可能不会使用电子健康应用程序。在未来采用电子健康应用程序的态度方面，男性和女性参与者之间以及年龄较小（<35 岁）和年龄较大（≥35 岁）参与者之间观察到显著差异。结论：为了保持态度的转变（增加电子健康的采用），政策制定者需要制定相关策略，在沙特阿拉伯推广电子健康的使用。
