Identifying the adoption process for electronic health services: A qualitative study

Abstract

The implementation of information and communication technology in the health care sector is of considerable interest, since it has been proved that it leads to benefits like improved health care quality, patient safety and satisfaction as well as favorable cost-effectiveness compared to traditional services. However, the implementation of electronic health services (e-health services) as innovative interventions or tools into routine care is a slow and unpredictable process. To speed up this development and to attain a wide dissemination, this study aims at identifying the decision-making process of the first use (adoption process) of an e-health service from the user’s respectively patient’s perspective. Fifty seven conducted semi-structured problem-centered interviews reveal that the typical adoption process consists of the following six phases: (1) latency phase, (2) initiative phase, (3) information phase, (4) decision phase, (5) trial phase and (6) confirmation phase. These insights contribute to the adoption theory. In order to guarantee a comprehensive analysis of the adoption process for e-health services, the paper has the following structure: A definition and a classification of e-health (services) as well as the theoretical concepts and a literature overview of the adoption process lay the foundation for the conducted study. In the following, the study description and the results of the qualitative e-health user interviews are presented. The paper ends with implications on theory and practice and a short outlook.