The Impact of Patients’ Trust and Privacy on Use of Medical Mobile Applications

Abstract

Two of the most essential issues in using Information Technology (IT) are trust and privacy. Ensuring patients’ privacy and trust in a health-based IT application is a vital consideration during both the development and implementation of mobile medical applications (MMA). This study adopted a quantitative method to explore privacy and trust factors in the use of MMA. The data were collected from 470 patients using healthcare facilities in Hail province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study found that 36% of participants were concerned about misuse of their personal data when they use MMAs, while 29.4% participants were concerned about using the MMAs because they were anxious about exposing their sensitive medical information. An implication of these findings is that administrators of health organizations should consider trust and privacy factors during development of MMAs and after implementing their use. The study findings might be used for similar environments or by researchers who are interested in conducting studies in health organizations.