Abstract
The global health care industry faces several challenges, such as an aging population, insufficient medical resources, and uneven allocation of high-quality medical resources. These challenges impede the development of a sustainable medical care system. Connected health aims to relieve these challenges by deploying information technology in healthcare. However, there is a lack of research on adoption of connected health and as a result, its acceptance rate is still low. This study summarized 25 potential factors that may affect its acceptance, and ranked their importance by performing a best–worst scaling experiment. Fifteen important factors were distinguished, which included nine technological factors, five individual factors, and one environmental factor. To explore how these factors affect individuals’ acceptance of connected health, this study conducted a qualitative study based on grounded theory. We coded the contents collected in a semi-structural interview by applying open coding, axial coding, and selective coding techniques. Finally, nine core categories were distinguished, and a conceptual model was proposed to explain how these core categories affect individuals’ acceptance of connected health. This study deepens our understanding of factors affecting the acceptance of connected health and helps build a sustainable medical care system.
Highlights
Health care is a topic closely related to the public interest and the sustainability of our society, and thereafter has always been a matter of concern
There is a lack of research on the adoption of connected health, and its acceptance rate is still low
Past literature on connected health primarily focused on technological factors while neglecting human factors
Summary
Health care is a topic closely related to the public interest and the sustainability of our society, and thereafter has always been a matter of concern. The global health care industry faces many challenges, such as an aging population, a higher rate of chronic diseases, and rejuvenation of chronic disease patients [1] These challenges increase the burden of our medical systems. Proper use of IT in the health care system will improve our ability to collect, store, handle, analyze and transmit medical data in a secure and efficient manner, and help relieve current challenges [6,7]. With this in mind, many countries released their new health care systems. “Telemedicine” is the prototype of connected health, which aims to “bring the right information to the right person at the right time” [7]
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