| ObjectiveInternet healthcare is the deep integration of Internet innovation and medical field.It has the advantages of optimizing resource allocation,innovating service modes,improving service efficiency,and leading to a better coordination between medical service supply and health demand.The key to successful implementation of Internet healthcare,a form of Information and Communication Technology(ICT)service,is to receive users’ adoption and acceptance.Because of the high professionalism of medical industry,doctors are both key users and core resources for Internet healthcare.Therefore,this paper discusses from the perspective of doctors and constructs a research model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology(UTAUT)and Value-based Adoption Model(VAM)and combines characteristics of Internet healthcare to explore key factors that influences the use of Internet healthcare among doctors.According to the results of the empirical research,references can be provided for the development of Internet healthcare.Methods1.Literature analysisOn the basis of analyzing and sorting out the research progress of Internet healthcare and information technology adoption behavior nationally and internationally,this paper proposes to integrate the UTAUT and the VAM as the theoretical basis to construct a research model of doctors’ usage intention to Internet healthcare,and puts forward the following hypotheses:perceived value,social influence,facilitating conditions,individual creativity,self-efficacy affect the usage intention;perceived usefulness,perceived effectiveness,perceived complexity of use,and perceived risk affect the perceived value.According to the research model and hypotheses,the questionnaire of doctors’ usage intention of Internet healthcare was developed for empirical research,drawing on relevant researches as well as opinions from experts in the field of Internet healthcare.2.Questionnaire survey350 doctors in three cities of Guangdong Province(Guangzhou,Shenzhen,Zhaoqing)were selected to conduct a field investigation by using a self-designed questionnaire from November 2017 to January 2018.The whole questionnaire included personal information,Internet healthcare cognition and usage,Internet healthcare perception3.Statistical analysisAfter eliminating invalid questionnaires according to unified rules,database was established by Epidata 3.1 and processed in SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 21.0.Statistical methods include descriptive statistics,reliability and validity analysis,single factor analysis of variance(t-test/one-way ANOVA),Pearson correlation analysis,multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling.A significant level of alpha=0.05.Results1.350 questionnaires were distributed,and 334 were taken back The response rate was 95.4%.309 valid questionnaires were taken back,so the valid response rate was 88.3%.2.Analysis of the cognition and usage of Internet healthcare is made:among 309 subjects,the awareness rate and usage rates of Internet healthcare are 94.2%and 47.9%,while the top three most frequently used Internet healthcare softwares are"Haodf"(33.2%),"Xingrenyisheng"(16.1%),"Chunyuyisheng"(13.5%);36.5%of 149 current users make daily use of the Internet healthcare;the top three types of healthcare service through Internet that doctors tend to provide are disease counseling(21.9%),follow-up(21%),and rehabilitation guidance(15.8%);the top three categories of value added services that doctors wish to obtain are "knowledge sharing and experience exchange"(18.8%),"doctors’ professional tool"(17.5%),"acquisition of medical information"(17.4%).3.Reliability and validity analyses on the perception of Internet healthcare perception questionnaire are made:the total Cronbach’s a coefficient of the questionnaires is 0.912,the Cronbach’s a coefficient of each dimension is not less than 0.7,the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index is 0.914(P<0.05),and the cumulative variance contribution rate is 74.76%.4.Single factor analysis of influencing factors of doctors’ usage intention of Internet healthcare is conducted:the difference of usage intention is statistical significance by gender(t=2.985,P=0.003),age(F=3.296,P=0.012),level of education(F=2.731,P=0.029),professional title(F=6.383,P=0.000),work time(F=5.134,P=0.002),and hospital grade(t=3.100,P=0.003);the difference of usage intention has no statistical significance among different cities where the hospitals are located(F=1.388,P=0.2473)and different clinical departments.(t=2.064,P=0.129).5.Analyses of the correlation between the influencing factors of doctors’ usage intention of Internet healthcare shows that:there is a positive correlation between perceived value,perceived benefit,social influence,facilitating conditions,self-efficacy,individual creativity and usage intention(P<0.05);there is a negative correlation between perceived risk and usage intention(P<0.05);the correlation between perceived complexity of use and usage intention has no statistical significance(P>0.05).6.Multivariate linear regression and structural equation model analysis of influencing factors of doctors’ usage intention of Internet healthcare are carried out:facilitating condition,social influence,individual creativity and perceived value positively affect usage intention,while the regression coefficient and path coefficient is accordingly 0.305,0.148,0.177,0.138 and 0.490,0.236,0.214,0.125(P<0.05).Self-efficacy positively affect usage intention,and the regression coefficient is 0.860(P<0.05),which has not been verified by the structural equation model.Perceived benefit directly positive affect perceived value and indirectly affect usage intention,with the regression coefficient and path coefficient of 0.138,0.079 and 0.125,0.088(P<0.05).It has not been verified that perceived complexity of use and perceived risk negatively affect perceived value.ConclusionThe Internet healthcare popularizes greatly in doctors,but the enthusiasm of using it is still relatively low,and a tendency of providing consulting service stands out.In addition,differences of usage intention lie in different genders,ages,professional titles,working years and hospital locations.The model of the doctors’usage intention to Internet healthcare in this study shows that contributing factors,social influence,individual creativity and perceived value have a positive impact on usage intention,and perceived benefit significantly affect perceived value.Based on the findings,we believe that efforts should be made from government,medical institutions,and Internet providers.Meanwhile six specific strategies to effectively improve doctors’ usage intention are presented:(1)improving the Internet healthcare regulatory system to reduce perceived risk;(2)formulating and implementing the supporting policies and systems to enhance social influence;(3)perfecting the construction of hospital information software and hardware to increase facilitating conditions;(4)innovating salary incentive mechanism to increase doctors’ perceived benefit;(5)fully excavating the core doctor users and promoting products diffusion;(6)increasing medical education services on the Internet to meet the needs of users. |
PDF Full Text Request