Exploring Health Care Professionals' Attitudes of Using Social Networking Sites for Health Care: An Empirical Study

摘要

Evidence from relevant studies show that the use of social networking sites or Web 2.0 portals in health care provide huge potential to transform traditional health care services, generating great collaboration, participation and openness. However, challenges of employing Web 2.0 for health care still exit. This empirical study uses semi-structured interview approach to explore health care professionals' attitudes towards using Web 2.0 portals for health care, especially focusing on specific social networking sites for chronic health care in China. Results present a range of positive attitudes of using the social networking sites to health professionals' clinical practice. Meanwhile, the opportunities and barriers related to use of such social networking sites into clinical practice are presented and discussed.