Abstract
BackgroundPatient participation in the health care domain has surged dramatically through the availability of digital health platforms and online health communities (OHCs). Such patient-driven service innovation has both potential and challenges for health care organizations. Over the last 5 years, articles have surfaced that focus on value cocreation in health care services and the importance of engaging patients and other actors in service delivery. However, a theoretical understanding of how to use OHCs for this purpose is still underdeveloped within the health care service ecosystem.ObjectiveThis paper aimed to introduce a theoretical discussion for better understanding of the potential of OHCs for health care organizations, in particular, for patient empowerment.MethodsThis literature review study involved a comprehensive search using 12 electronic databases (EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, PubMed, Elton B Stephens Co [academic], Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Accelerated Information Sharing for Law Enforcement, Association for Computing Machinery, and Google Scholar) from 2013 to 2019. A total of 1388 studies were identified from the database search. After removing duplicates and applying inclusion criteria, we thematically analyzed 56 articles using the Braun and Clarke thematic analysis approach.ResultsWe identified a list of 5 salient themes: communication extension, improved health literacy for patients and health care organizations, communication transparency with patients, informational and social support for patients, and patient empowerment in self-management. The most frequent theme was communication extension, which covers 39% (22/56) of the literature. This theme reported that an extension of communication between patients, caregivers, and physicians and organizations led to new opportunities to create value with minimal time and cost restrictions. Improved health literacy and communication transparency with patients were the second and third most frequent themes, respectively, covering 26% (15/56) and 25% (14/56) of the literature, respectively. The frequency of these themes indicated that the use of OHCs to generate new knowledge from patients’ interactions helped health care organizations to customize treatment plans and establish transparent and effective communication between health care organizations and patients. Furthermore, of the 56 studies, 13 (23%) and 10 (17%) studies contended the opportunity of using OHCs in terms of informational and emotional support and empowering patients in their self-management of diseases.ConclusionsThis review enables better understanding of the current state of the art of the online value cocreation and its potential for health care organizations. This study found that the opportunities for health care organizations through enhancement of patient participation and their cocreation of value in digital health platforms have been rapidly increasing. The identified gaps and opportunities in this study would identify avenues for future directions in modernized and more effective value-oriented health care informatics research.
Highlights
BackgroundThe health care industry is under increasing pressure in terms of enhancing their service provision and quality with meeting the growing demands
This study found that the opportunities for health care organizations through enhancement of patient participation and their cocreation of value in digital health platforms have been rapidly increasing
The communication extension provides health care organizations with the opportunity to look beyond the patient portal and consider how technology nurtures consumers’ relationship, engagement, and contributions as well as the health care organizations to better understand the value cocreation process that occurs within digital health platforms [66,71]
Summary
The health care industry is under increasing pressure in terms of enhancing their service provision and quality with meeting the growing demands. This is because of population growth and the rise of chronic diseases [1] besides other factors. For patients with chronic diseases, OHCs provide a set of anecdotal information [12,13], which helps patients increase their positive emotional experience and attitude toward chronic diseases, engaging them in the activities of the community [14] Empowering patients improves their role in cocreating, co-designing, and co-delivering health services [15]. A theoretical understanding of how to use OHCs for this purpose is still underdeveloped within the health care service ecosystem
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