Findings

5.2 Findings

Finding 1: The provision of alarm services is crucial for creating patient intention

The examination showed that the alarm service is a significant service feature distinguishing patients with no intention to use the service from those who do. Thus, service providers should emphasize the alarm service when marketing the service to the patients. We further analyzed how the patients would like the service be delivered.

Table 5-12 shows that patients prefer instant contacts via phone to messages delivered via text or the online platform.

Table 5-12 Patients’ opinions on the delivery of alarm services The number of patients preferring each means of delivering the alarm service

Contact by

phone call

Contact by cell phone txt

Contact by platform message

Not needed Total

respondents 11 3 3 0 17

percentage ^{64.7% 17.6% 17.6% 0.0% 100.0%}

Finding 2: Social relationships, the medical information service, and the health education information service are important service features for e-health service users

The investigation shows that social relationships affect the decision to use the service. We further found that this factor has a negative impact. Only 12% of adopters would follow friends’ and relatives’ recommendations to use the service, which is much lower than for non-adopters (Table 5-13). Thus, we can conclude that social relationships may improve patients’ intention to use the service but is not the key factor in the decision.

Table 5-13. The impact of social relationships Use is due to the

recommendations of friends and relatives

The

recommendations of friends and relatives will not affect my use

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respondents 19 35 54

percentage 35.2% 64.8% 100%

The investigation also shows that different service elements will affect patients’

use decisions. We found that opinions on consulting services significantly differ between adopters and non-adopters (see table 5-14). Further, the results show that adopters are more likely to expect consulting services. In addition to consulting services, the provision of educational information is also important for adopters. Table 5-15 shows that 30% of the adopters ranked the provision of educational information as their top priority.

Table 5-14 The impact of consulting service on adoption Whether patients expect consulting services

yes no total

Adopters

respondents 33 17

percentage 66% 34% %

Non-adopters

respondents 19 35

percentage 35.2% 64.8% %

Table 5-15 The impact of health education information on adoption Whether patients prioritize health education

yes no total

Adopters

respondents 15 35 50

percentage 30% 70% 100%

Non-adopters

respondents 2 52 54

percentage 3.7% 96.3% 100%

Finding 3: Recording physiological information has a significant impact on continued use

The investigation reveals that recording physiological information is an important service feature that will affect patients’ willingness to continue using the service. The reason may be that recording physiological information is effective for diet control. The data indicate that effectively managing physiological information

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can improve glycemic control and decrease glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) by up to 2%.Conversely, a lack of dietary compliance is a major barrier in achieving glycemic control in diabetes. Therefore, patients would be concerned about controlling what they eat, and thus recording physiological information is important to patients.

Finding 4: Self-evaluation, professional suggestions, and the frequency of service supply affect both intention and adoption

The findings indicate that promoting the service through the Internet or magazines is effective in increasing the intention to use and the adoption of the service. Service designers could also cooperate with doctors to promote the e-health service.

Finding 5

User age affects both intention and continued use

The investigation also reveals that user age has affects patients’ intentions and continued use. The analysis further shows the patients who exhibit the highest levels of intention are between 35 and 50 years of age, and those who are willing to continue their use regardless of the expense are between 60 and 65 (see table 5-16) The results can help service designers identify target groups for service promotion.

Table 5-16 The impact of user age on intention and continued use Effect of user age on intention and continued use

Under 20 20-35 35-50 60-65 Over 65 intention to use e-health services

percentage ^{2.7% 13.5% 48.6% 35.1% 8.5%}

continue using e-health services

percentage ^{2% 20% 30% 40% 8%}

Finding 6: The analysis form service, user disease type, platform medical satisfaction, platform operational satisfaction, and service medical satisfaction are important service features that affect the three stages of use.

Our study found that providing analysis forms is important across the three stages of use. The analysis also found that patients who suffer from Type 2 diabetes are more likely to intend to use the service. However, patients who suffer from Type 1 diabetes are more willing to adopt and continue to use the service. This difference deserves further analysis in the future. Moreover, our study found that individuals with higher levels of platform medical satisfaction, platform operational satisfaction, and service

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medical satisfaction are more likely to intend to use the service and are more willing to use and continue using the e-health service.

Finding 7: The Caring Service cannot discriminate among the three stages of use Of the variables we tested, we found that caring service cannot effectively

discriminate among of usage levels. Based on our questionnaire interviews in the clinic, many patients express an interest in the caring service, and thus the caring service maybe equally important across the three stages, and thus this variable does not exhibit significant differences across usage groups.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION