Title: An empirical study of healthcare professionals' willingness to utilise telehealth services based on protection motivation theory

Authors: Jonathan Kissi; Baozhen Dai; Emmanuel Kusi Achmpong; Alex Boadi Dankyi; Joseph Antwi

Addresses: School of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Health Information Management, University of Cape Coast, University Post Office, Cape Coast, Ghana ' Department of Health Policy and Management, Jiangsu University, School of Management, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, 212013, China ' School of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Health Information Management, University of Cape Coast, University Post Office, Cape Coast, Ghana ' Department of Research and Innovations, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana ' School of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Health Information Management, University of Cape Coast, University Post Office, Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract: With the increasing data protection regulations, protecting patients' digital information is a growing concern for healthcare professionals and institutions, as people continuously live their lives through telehealth services. This study examines how threats and coping appraisals, as constructs from protection motivation theory, influence the implementation of telehealth services. The empirical results after data collection and analysis from 543 respondents' using structural equation modelling technique showed that perceived patients' information security threat and privacy risk, perceived telehealth systems security threat and self-efficacy had a significant effect on health professionals' behaviours to use telehealth services. Health professionals' behaviour also had a significant effect on actual telehealth service use. Response efficacy however had no significant effect on health professionals' adoption of telehealth services. The study results contribute to empirical knowledge by identifying health professionals' preparedness to use telehealth services.

Keywords: telehealth services; patient information; security threats; privacy risk; healthcare professionals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2023.130314

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2023 Vol.20 No.1, pp.74 - 89

Received: 11 Jun 2021
Accepted: 24 Mar 2022
Published online: 17 Apr 2023 *