Online health management continuance and the moderating effect of service type and age difference: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Numerous empirical studies have been carried out to explore factors of online health management continuance. However, results were not unified. We thus conducted a meta-analysis to identify influential factors and potential moderators. A systematic literature search was performed in nine databases (PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Ovid of JBI, CINAHL, Embase, CNKI, VIP, and CBM) published up to December 2020 in the English or Chinese language. Meta-analysis of combined effect size, heterogeneity, moderator analysis, publication bias assessment, and inter-rater reliability was conducted. Totally 41 studies and 12 pairwise relationships were identified. Confirmation, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, information quality, service quality, perceived ease of use, and trust were all critical predictors. Service type and age difference showed their moderating effects respectively. The perceived usefulness was more noteworthy in medical service than health and fitness service. The trust was more noteworthy in young adults. The results confirmed the validity and robustness of the Expectation Confirmation Model, Information Systems Success Model, and trust theory in online health management continuance. Moderators included but are not limited to age difference and service type. The elderly research in the healthcare context and other analytical methods such as qualitative comparative analysis should be applied in the future.

A scale to measure the perceived quality of mHealth by elderly patients with hypertension in China

“…However, as quality was divided into three parts, ‘service quality’ was a narrow concept, more focused on the service model beyond system quality and information quality. Nonetheless, service quality is an important factor in user’s satisfaction with mHealth [ 18 ], as observed in the elderly individuals included in current study. All three proposed indicators had a significant path coefficient on the scale.…”

“…Inconsistent with previous research [ 45 ], ‘system quality’ did not affect user satisfaction significantly, which is also in contrast to the ISS framework. As an essential prerequisite for information product [ 28 ], system quality is often taken for granted and rarely researched in the path analysis of mHealth satisfaction [ 18 ]. However, in this study, it was proven to be an integral part of the overall quality of mHealth apps, but not a predictor of user satisfaction, which may reflect the situation of hypertension management apps.…”

“…The combination of information system theory and behavior theory is widely applied in the investigation of mHealth and their usage behavior. Expectation confirmation model (ECM) [ 15 ], Information systems success model (ISS) [ 16 ], Technology Acceptance Model(TAM), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology(UTAUT) [ 17 ] are four extensively used theories in this research field, and their applicability has been well recognized with mixed statistical significance, direction, and magnitude [ 18 ]. Multiple constructs derived from these theories are closely related and confirmed by researches and can be divided into three categories.…”