Digital Health Adoption Hinges on Patient Health Literacy, New Research Shows

Studies have shown that the level of health literacy affects the likelihood of patients using different forms of digital health tools.Recently, an article titled “Health Literacy and the Adoption of Health Information Technology: The Potential for a New Digital Divide” was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, pointing out that patients with higher health literacy are more likely to use digital health tools than those with lower health literacy. VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has compiled the main content of the article for you; see below for details.

Surveys indicate that approximately half of all adults in the United States exhibit low health literacy. For this population, accessing and utilizing health information is particularly challenging. Low health literacy can lead to a range of adverse outcomes, including overall poorer health status. Health Information Technology (HIT) delivers health information directly to patients through electronic tools, such as patient portals, wearable technologies, and mobile applications. However, direct access to this information has become relatively complex due to patients’ misconceptions regarding HIT privacy policies and data sharing practices.

This study was conducted by Dr. Michael Mackert and colleagues from the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. The researchers sought to investigate whether health literacy is associated with the extent of patients’ use of health information technology (HIT) tools. A total of 4,974 U.S. adults were recruited for the study, of whom 42.26% were male, 63.25% were White, and the mean age was 43.5 years. Participants first underwent health literacy assessment using the latest Vital Signs measure, and then answered questions related to digital health, including whether they used the following four categories of HIT tools: fitness apps, nutrition apps, activity trackers, or patient portals.

In addition, the researchers explored patients’ awareness of privacy in health information technology (HIT) tools and their levels of trust in government, media, technology companies, and healthcare providers. This study also represents the first large-scale investigation into these closely interrelated concepts.

Overall, 16% of the participants had low health literacy, while the remaining 84% demonstrated above-average health literacy. Twenty-eight percent of the participants used fitness apps, 34% used nutrition apps, 33% used activity trackers, and 42% used patient portals.

Compared with patients whose health literacy is above average, those with lower health literacy use digital health tools less frequently. For example, 25.7% of patients with low health literacy used patient portals, whereas the proportion reached 45% among patients with high health literacy.

The researchers also investigated participants’ various perspectives on digital health, including the ease of use and usability of such tools.

Overall, compared with patients who have higher health literacy, those with lower health literacy generally perceive such tools as less user-friendly. This may affect the adoption of health information technology (HIT) among this patient population. The article notes that HIT adoption is associated with individuals’ perceptions of the ease of use and usefulness of HIT tools—that is, with higher health literacy—because health literacy determines how people obtain, understand, use, and disseminate health-related information.

Research findings indicate that simple, user-friendly interventions designed for individuals with low health literacy are also favored by many users with high health literacy. Therefore, developers of Health Information Technology (HIT) need to create highly usable, easy-to-adopt tools tailored to patients with lower health literacy, ensuring that users across all levels of health literacy can benefit.

The study results also highlight the distinction between ease of use and perceived usefulness. Although higher health literacy is closely associated with the ease of use of digital health tools, it is not correlated with their perceived usefulness. Patients with higher health literacy may be able to easily utilize various digital health tools, but this does not necessarily lead them to perceive these tools as relevant to or beneficial for improving their health.

Furthermore, researchers’ survey of participants regarding their understanding of digital health privacy concepts revealed that, compared to individuals with higher health literacy, those with lower health literacy were more likely to believe that digital health services can guarantee the confidentiality of personal information. This finding underscores an urgent need for the industry to provide information privacy education to populations with limited access to digital health services, thereby enhancing their health literacy and computer self-efficacy to help them make the most informed decisions concerning the privacy of their medical information.

Finally, regarding patients’ trust in health-related institutions, those with lower health literacy scores exhibit varying levels of trust across different entities. For instance, individuals with low health literacy demonstrate distrust toward the government, media, and technology companies. In contrast, these patients place greater trust in healthcare organizations.

Although researchers stated that further investigation is needed to gain a deeper understanding of this trust pattern, they believe it will have implications for future health information technology (HIT) deployments. Because individuals with low health literacy place substantial trust in healthcare providers, companies and governments intending to launch new HIT tools targeted at this population can enhance tool adoption rates by collaborating with these providers.

In the future, developers and industry professionals in Health Information Technology (HIT) should fully consider their target audiences to ensure that technologies are designed for actual patient use. According to the findings of Mackert and colleagues, adequate research can ensure that developers create better tools suitable for all patient populations.

Researchers concluded that there is an urgent need today to understand the correlation between health literacy and the adoption and use of Health Information Technology (HIT) applications. This understanding is essential to ensure that all users can derive comprehensive health benefits from technological advancements, by collaborating with healthcare organizations and providers trusted by users, while safeguarding the privacy of medical information. In the future, the development speed and capabilities of such tools will continue to increase.