Patient compliance behavior in a mobile healthcare system: An integration of theories of rational choice and planned behavior

Abstract

© 2015 IEEE.The lack of patient compliance to medical recommendations and treatments suggested by doctors has long been a significant problem. In practice, patient education is considered an important intervention to empower patients and increase their compliance. It has been advocated as a means of improving patient medical knowledge and compliance. However, evidence of the efficacy of computer-aided patient education is still relatively limited, little is known on how the latest mobile technologies affect patients' compliance behavior. Based on Rational Choice Theory (RCT) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), we propose and test a research model to investigate the compliance behavior of patients supported by a mobile healthcare system. We conducted a field survey with actual patients in the U.S. Who used the system, and employed SEM techniques for data analysis. Overall, we found strong support for using RCT and TPB as a key theoretical foundation to assess patients' compliance behavior.