Investigating Health-Care Consumers’ Intention to Use Patient Decision Aids: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Patient decision aids (PDAs) are designed to help patients participate in making specific choices concerning their care options in shared decision-making (SDM). Even though some practitioners and academics have emphasized how SDM enables hospitals to improve patient safety, the overall adoption of PDAs by patients remains low. This study developed an integrated model to explain health-care consumers’ intention to use PDAs. This theoretical model was empirically validated using online survey data from Taiwanese citizens aged at least 20 years. The structural equation model was used to examine the data. The 2,513 valid questionnaires obtained by this study constituted a response rate of 83.76%. The results revealed that e-health literacy had a positive influence on self-efficacy. The findings also indicated that self-efficacy, e-health literacy, functional value, social value, and emotional value had a positive effect on health-care consumers’ intention to use PDAs in SDM. The results of this study provide constructive suggestions to researchers, hospitals, and the government to increase the likelihood of SDM participation.