Patients' perception of using telehealth for type 2 diabetes management: a phenomenological study

BACKGROUND: There is a growing body of evidence that supports the uses of telehealth to monitor and manage people with diabetes at a distance. Despite this, the uptake of telehealth has been low. The objective of this study is to explore patients' perceptions of using telehealth for type 2 diabetes management. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 10 patients from the NHS Newham area in London, UK. Data were collected using recorded semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and the analysis was guided by the phenomenological analysis approach. RESULTS: We identified three main themes for facilitating positive patient experience or acceptance of telehealth and these included: technology consideration, service perceptions and empowerment. All patients asserted that they were pleased with the technology and many also proclaimed that they could not see themselves being without it. Moreover, very few negative views were reported with respect to the use of telehealth. CONCLUSION: The patients' perceived telehealth as a potential to enhance their quality of life, allow them to live independently at home as well as help them take and be in more control over their own health state. The findings of this study therefore supports the use of telehealth for the routine care of people with type 2 diabetes. However, one must interpret the results with caution due to limitations identified in the sample

A Technology Acceptance Model for E-health Services for the Elderly Population in China

A human-centered e-health service model for elderly people is proposed as one of the measures to help meet the challenges of an ageing society in China. Most of the research in this field to date has been limited to qualitative research, the paper puts forward a proposal to build a technology acceptance model to extend e-health services for elderly people; this is expected to obtain more quantitative data on acceptance. The purpose of this paper is to explore a suitable research analysis model for China's aging e-health service, as well as to enrich related researches in this area