Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since Jun 08, 2021)
Date Submitted: May 3, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Factors Influencing General Practitioners’ Intention to Utilize Wearable ECG Devices for Atrial Fibrillation Screening: An Acceptance Model and Questionnaire Survey
ABSTRACT
Background:
Atrial fibrillation (AF) was a challenging cardiovascular disease worldwide. Wearable electrocardiograph devices (WEDs) had great potential to improve the detection rate of AF in primary care. However, the factors that influence general practitioners’ (GPs) acceptance of WEDs were not well understood.
Objective:
To identify factors that influenced the intention of GPs to utilize WEDs in their practice to screen patients for AF.
Methods:
The research hypotheses and questionnaire items were designed and developed based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and technology (UTAUT) framework. We used stratified random sampling and obtained the data through an online survey. We used structural equation modeling(SMR) to analyze the collected data .
Results:
A total of 1004 valid questionnaires from GPs across Sichuan province in China were collected. Three factors increased GPs' intention to utilize WEDs to screen patients for AF, including performance expectancy (β=0.121, P=0.004), social influence (β=0.356, P<0.001), and price perception (β=0.587, P<0.001). Perception risk (β=-0.059, P<0.001) decreased usage intention, while effort expectancy (β=-0.079, P=0.155) and facilitating conditions (β=-0.014, P=0.868) did not affect usage intention. Gender (β=-0.022, P=0.179), age (β=0.006, P=0.699), education level (β=-0.22, P=0.184) and training (β=0.007, P=0.69) were not significantly correlated with usage intention, and these four factors had no moderating effect on the path coefficients.
Conclusions:
GPs’ intention to utilize WEDs is affected by performance expectancy, price perception, perception risk and social influence. Health information technology companies should improve the usability of WEDs and carry out studies to provide evidence for the security of such devices. They should also focus on social influence and provide the devices at a reasonable price. The findings of this study point to a new option for GPs to screen patients for AF. Clinical Trial: This study is registered at www.chictr.org.cn (Identifier: CHiCTR1900021246).
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