Investigating Health Managers’ Perspectives of Factors Influencing Their Acceptance of eHealth Services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a country with one of the largest land masses and the most difficult geographical terrain in the Middle East. The accessibility of advanced health services, especially for people in rural areas, has been considered one of the main health challenges. To overcome this problem, many initiatives to embrace technology in healthcare were launched by the Ministry of Health (MOH). Despite the growth of utilizing eHealth interventions in the country, more research related to the end-users’ acceptance of eHealth services remains needed. This study aimed to investigate the relative importance of factors that influence health managers’ acceptance of eHealth services in KSA against behavioural intention (BI) and use behaviour (UB). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> An online questionnaire was designed based on two sources: first, the thirty-nine factors identified in a related systematic review to be relevant to eHealth acceptance in KSA, and second, the validated questionnaire adopted from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. Participants were asked to rate the relative importance of the factors. The questionnaire was available in both Arabic and English. Professionals in KSA with a health management role from different backgrounds such as health professions, Health Information Technology, and administration were invited to take part. Participation links were distributed across social media platforms. Ethical approval had been gained. <b><i>Results:</i></b> 385 responses were received. Findings highlighted the relative importance of the main determinants that health managers in the KSA thought were important to influence their acceptance of eHealth services. The top rated influential factors were (i) availability of operational resources, (ii) privacy and security of health information, (iii) Information and Communication Technology infrastructure and readiness, (iv) availability of qualified human resources, and (v) quality of eHealth systems and applications. Of the UTAUT constructs, performance expectancy (PE) and social influence, which encapsulate factors such as management support, change resistance, and stakeholders’ voice that can play a crucial role in the acceptance of technology as part of daily work, showed significance to the BI, as well as facilitating conditions and PE to the UB. However, some results need further investigation to clarify ambiguity. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Findings from this study may help address the current challenges and barriers and prioritize the main areas to improve eHealth acceptance in the KSA. Further research is planned to explore the identified factors across KSA through in-depth interviews.

Exploring Health Managers’ Views of Factors Influencing Their Acceptance of Electronic Health Services in Aseer Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Study

“…This was the most practical method of data collection in consideration of the job responsibility level of the targeted population (health managers) and geographical spread. Open-ended questions allowed participants to express freely and openly their views about factors that have been found to be influential to acceptance of eHealth services in the previous phases of this study [1, 4].…”

“…The initial draft of interview questions was informed by the findings from the two previous phases [1, 4]. Questions were focused on the eHealth knowledge, eHealth services availability, easiness of using eHealth services, challenges and barriers to using eHealth, eHealth benefits, resource availability, training requirements, and factors found to be of importance from the participants’ perspective.…”

“…All themes were set deductively from the previous phase of this study [1]. Four preset umbrella domains were based on the four constructs of UTAUT (refer to Fig.…”

“…The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a country with one of the largest land masses and difficult geographical terrain in the Middle East [1]. The accessibility of advanced health services, especially for people in rural areas, has been considered one of the main health challenges.…”

“…Many healthcare organizations took steps to benefit from the health technology revolution. Two studies reviewed the status of eHealth in KSA and concluded that the eHealth field in the country is promising with significant growth [1, 4]. However, eHealth studies remain limited to only a few geographical provinces and healthcare organisations which could affect the overall picture of eHealth status in the country as findings would not be generalised countrywide [4, 5].…”