Meraya Abdulkarim M, Khardali Amani, Ahmad Sarfaraz, Hoshaibari Ahmed Z, Alameer Atheer A, Jaafari Raed Y, Thaibah Hilal A, Alfarhan Moaddey, Syed Mamoon H
Department of Clinical Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Front Public Health. 2025 Mar 12;13:1542974. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1542974. eCollection 2025.
Telehealth is a promising approach for healthcare delivery that uses telecommunication technologies to enhance accessibility by providing remote health services. This study aimed to identify psychosocial factors that best predict behavioral intention to use telehealth/telemedicine, as mediated by attitude toward use, among older adults with chronic conditions in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia, and to compare users and non-users.
Participants were aged 60 years or above, residing in Jazan, and presenting with at least one chronic condition. This study used a quantitative research approach with a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. We stratified all analyses by telehealth use status (users or non-users).
Our study sample comprised 466 participants aged 60 or above with at least one chronic condition. The most prevalent condition was diabetes (29%), followed by arthritis (23%). Among the telehealth users (n = 256), a high percentage (42%) reported that telehealth was better than in-person appointments. Among telehealth users, we found that perceived usefulness [(users: β = 0.501; < 0.001) (non-users: β = 0.441; < 0.001)] and facilitating conditions [(users: β = 0.768; = 0.001) (non-users: β = 0.807; < 0.001)] positively affected attitudes to using telehealth. Telehealth users and non-users reported dislike or fear of the service and unavailability of appointments as the most important barriers to using telehealth services.
The results of this study are important for designing new telehealth applications, especially for older adults in Saudi Arabia. Designers and developers must understand that the attributes and capabilities of telehealth applications should be simple and user-friendly to encourage older adults to increase their intention to use telehealth.
远程医疗是一种很有前景的医疗服务方式，它利用电信技术通过提供远程健康服务来提高可及性。本研究旨在确定在沙特阿拉伯吉赞地区患有慢性病的老年人中，通过对使用的态度介导的、最能预测使用远程医疗/远程医学行为意向的心理社会因素，并比较使用者和非使用者。
参与者年龄在60岁及以上，居住在吉赞，且患有至少一种慢性病。本研究采用定量研究方法，进行横断面问卷调查。我们按远程医疗使用状况（使用者或非使用者）对所有分析进行分层。
我们的研究样本包括466名60岁及以上且患有至少一种慢性病的参与者。最常见的疾病是糖尿病（29%），其次是关节炎（23%）。在远程医疗使用者（n = 256）中，很大比例（42%）报告称远程医疗比面对面预约更好。在远程医疗使用者中，我们发现感知有用性[（使用者：β = 0.501；<0.001）（非使用者：β = 0.441；<0.001）]和便利条件[（使用者：β = 0.768；= 0.001）（非使用者：β = 0.807；<0.001）]对使用远程医疗的态度有积极影响。远程医疗使用者和非使用者都报告称不喜欢或害怕该服务以及无法预约是使用远程医疗服务的最重要障碍。
本研究结果对于设计新的远程医疗应用很重要，特别是对沙特阿拉伯的老年人。设计者和开发者必须明白，远程医疗应用的属性和功能应该简单且用户友好，以鼓励老年人增加使用远程医疗的意向。
