JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The adoption of telemedicine has facilitated the opportunity to offer best healthcare services. Nevertheless, there is a mismatch between presence of telemedicine programs in the Kingdom Saudi Arabia and poor acceptance by end-user patients.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to gain a holistic understanding of the perceptions and barriers of the end-user patients toward the utility of telemedicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods:

An observational, cross-sectional, survey-based study was conducted from 01-Jun-2021 to 31-July-2022 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was developed based on literature review and examined for validity and reliability. The questionnaire was divided into four main parts: (i) socio-demographics, (ii) proportion of patients who used telemedicine services before, (iii) perceived attitudes toward the adoption of telemedicine services by participants, and (iv) perceived barriers toward the adoption of telemedicine services by participants. Some questions included Yes/No format and others had 5-point Likert scale questions. Data were reported descriptively and analyzed using the SPSS software.

Results:

Overall, 1024 participants participated in the survey. Most participants were married (50.6%), completed college/university education (30.6%), Saudi citizens (75.1%), and had jobs (63.7%). The three regions with the highest response rates were Makkah (27.2%), Riyadh (14.6%), and the Eastern Province (10.8%). A large proportion of the surveyed participants had cars (71.7%), smart phones (83.9%), and at least one social media account (78.3%). Only 26.2% and 59.6% of individuals reported living in rural areas and having chronic diseases, respectively. The fractions of subjects who attended a telemedicine service before, during, and after COVID-19, were 49.6%, 61.9%, and 50.1%, respectively. Approximately 72.1% of participants reported that they had heard about telemedicine, but only 63.9% had seen a telemedicine process previously. The perceived attitudes were moderate whereby roughly 40% to 60% of the participants expressed positive attitudes toward the benefits of telemedicine services. As for the perceived barriers, the participants voiced some concerns regarding patient/physician resistance as well as attributed some cultural and technology-related limitations as potential hindrances to full adoption of telemedicine services. According to gender, there were no significant differences in the knowledge and the perceived attitudes and barriers toward the application of telemedicine services between males and females. Nonetheless, the place of residence (rural versus no rural) had significant impact on the knowledge and the perceived attitudes and barriers toward the application of telemedicine services.

Conclusions:

The perceived attitudes were moderate whereby roughly 40% to 60% of the participants expressed positive attitudes toward the benefits of telemedicine services. As for the perceived barriers, they were in line with the published literature, and included some concerns regarding patient/physician resistance and some cultural and technology-related limitations as potential hindrances to full adoption of telemedicine services.