Intention to use personal health record system and its predictors among chronic patients enrolled at public hospitals in Bahir Dar city, northwest Ethiopia: using modified UTAUT2 model

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, it leads to more mortality than almost every other region in the world. Currently, digital health technology like personal health records plays a crucial role in managing patients with chronic diseases. In low-resource countries like Ethiopia, it is uncertain how many chronic patients intend to use PHRs and the accompanying circumstances. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess chronic patients' intention to use PHRs and its predictors enrolled in public health hospitals in Bahir Dar city, northwest Ethiopia.

Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 924 respondents from April 5 to May 9, 2023, in Bahir-Dar city public hospitals. A stratified sampling technique followed by a systematic sampling technique was applied to select the study participants. An interviewer-administrated questionnaire was conducted using Kobo Collect. A UTAUT2 model was applied to develop theoretical frameworks. SPSS version 25 software was used to estimate the descriptive statistics, and the structural equation model analysis was used to evaluate model constructs using AMOS version 21 software.

Results: In this study, a total of 908 study subjects participated. The proportion of chronic patients' intention to use PHR was 46.7% [95.0% CI (43.4-50.1)]. According to the findings, performance expectancy (β = 0.259, p-value <0.001), effort expectancy (β = 0.214, p-value <0.001), social influence (β = 0.174, p-value <0.001), and facilitating condition (β = 0.114, p-value <0.01) had a significant effect on the intention to use PHRs.

Conclusion: Generally, the overall intention to use PHR was low. Our finding illustrates that the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions had a positive effect on patients' intentions to use PHRs. The effect of effort expectancy on the intention to use a PHR was positively moderated by age. Since the findings of this study would help policymakers and programmers to future academics interested in this area and insight to future research workers. Therefore, implementers should focus on improving patient capacity, motivating users, and raising awareness regarding PHR.

Keywords: Ethiopia; PHR; UTAUT2; chronic disease; intention to use.