An Empirical Study to Explore the Adoption of Telehealth: Health Belief Model Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to integrate self efficacy with the Health Belief Model in order to explore the usage intention model of Telehealth systems. The proposed framework is validated with respondents from Nantou County, which is located in Taiwan. The findings show that a good overall fit of the proposed model with the empirical data. This study also demonstrates that perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers have jointly significantly positive effect on cues to action. Furthermore, both cues to action and self efficacy have significantly positive effect on usage intention. This study emphasizes that hospital managers should pay more attention to understanding the five concepts of health belief of elderly (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and cues to action), and improving self efficacy of elderly. The findings also imply that a successful telehealth system is not only an information system but also a health service provider to the residents. The findings may be used as a theoretical basis for future research and can also offer empirical foresight to the executives and managers of hospitals when they initially introduce and promote the telehealth systems into their surrounding community..

Keywords

• Telecare
• Telehealth
• Health Belief Model
• Self Efficacy