Impact of Online Health Information on Patient-physician Relationship and Adherence; Extending Health-belief Model for Online Contexts

摘要

Physicians have information advantage over patients in terms of professional knowledge and expertise, implying patients have to fully depend on them for diagnosis, prescription and treatment. However, in the wake of abundant online health information (OHI) on the internet and through mobile apps, these days patients appear to be better-informed when approaching their physicians. As per health-belief model, patients would be motivated better to adhere to physicians' prescribed treatments if they feel threatened by their symptoms and/or when they are convinced about the benefits of the treatment. This research proposes improved health-belief model incorporating use of OHI. It identifies different types of OHI shaping up patients' perceptions prior to interactions with physicians. It suggests that patient-physician meetings (relationship) and consequent adherence behavior of the patients are inter-related and deeply affected by the initial perceptions of the patients based on consumed OHI. The proposed model is being tested using anonymous survey data collected immediately after patient-physician meetings in clinics/hospitals and subsequent adherence data from the same patients. Key contribution of this paper is combining individual's information behavior with health behavior which provides much better understanding for management of emergent healthcare delivery models in the digital economy.