Forecasting care seekers satisfaction with telemedicine using machine learning and structural equation modeling.

Khondker Mohammad Zobair,Luke Houghton,Md Zahidul Islam,Louis Sanzogni,Camelia Delcea

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0257300

Khondker Mohammad Zobair, Luke Houghton + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257300

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Sep 24, 2021
Citations: 18	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Griffith University, Khulna University

Abstract

Many individuals visit rural telemedicine centres to obtain safe and effective health remedies for their physical and emotional illnesses. This study investigates the antecedents of patients’ satisfaction relating to telemedicine adoption in rural public hospitals settings in Bangladesh through the adaptation of Expectation Disconfirmation Theory extended by Social Cognitive Theory. This research advances a theoretically sustained prediction model forecasting patients’ satisfaction with telemedicine to enable informed decision making. A research model explores four potential antecedents: expectations, performance, disconfirmation, and enjoyment; that significantly contribute to predicting patients’ satisfaction concerning telemedicine adoption in Bangladesh. This model is validated using two-staged structural equation modeling and artificial neural network approaches. The findings demonstrate the determinants of patients’ satisfaction with telemedicine. The presented model will assist medical practitioners, academics, and information systems practitioners to develop high-quality decisions in the future application of telemedicine. Pertinent implications, limitations and future research directions are endorsed securing long-term telemedicine sustainability.

Highlights

Telemedicine is a promising, growing beneficial approach to healing, providing remotely based support to the medically underprivileged and sparsely populated regions with inadequate access to health-based facilities
The findings demonstrate that the relationships between expectations (EXP) and satisfaction (SAT) (β = 0.350, t = 6.089, p < 0.01), performance (PERF) and satisfaction (SAT) (β = 0.155, t = 2.833, p < 0.01), disconfirmation (DISC) and satisfaction (SAT) (β = 0.184, t = 3.773, p < 0.01) and enjoyment (ENJ) and satisfaction (SAT) (β = 0.168, t = 3.030, p < 0.01) were statistically significant, confirming support for Hypothesis 1 (H1), Hypothesis 4 (H4), Hypothesis 6 (H6) and Hypothesis 7 (H7)
We argue that if telemedicine consistently delivers high-quality services it Forecasting care seekers satisfaction with telemedicine is more likely to have satisfied care seekers resulting in the continuance of usage

Summary

Introduction

Telemedicine is a promising, growing beneficial approach to healing, providing remotely based support to the medically underprivileged and sparsely populated regions with inadequate access to health-based facilities. Despite the increasing demand for telemedicine, the adoption rate is below expectations [1]. Research on telemedicine initiatives demonstrates that it often fails to secure its deployment goals. Al-Samarraie, Ghazal, Alzahrani, and Moody revealed that 75% of projects are abandoned or incapable of last in Middle Eastern countries, which is as high as 90% in developing countries [2]. Within developed country’s context, Uscher-Pines et al [3] reported that in the USA, the adoption rate is increasing < 20% of licenced treatment facilities offered telemedicine by 2019, but this rate remained lower than.

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