Examining the Role of Anxiety and Apathy in Health Consumers' Intentions to Use Patient Health Portals for Personal Health Information Management

This study investigated college students' attitudes toward and intentions to use personal health portals (PHPs) for managing their personal health information using a survey method. The study also aimed to examine the roles electronic Personal Health Information Management (PHIM) anxiety and apathy play in influencing students' attitudes toward and intention to use PHPs. A total of 242 college students participated in this study. Results of regression analyses yielded only partial support for the hypotheses proposed. In particular, the findings show that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness significantly influenced attitudes towards the use of PHPs. Additionally, the results show that computer anxiety significantly moderated the relationships between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and attitudes. On the other hand, while there was a significant relationship between attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control and intentions to use PHPs, apathy or anxiety were not found to significantly moderate this relationship. Additional exploratory analyses were conducted to test electronic PHIM anxiety and electronic PHIM apathy as direct predictors. While electronic PHIM apathy was significant at predicting attitudes toward and intentions to use PHPs, electronic PHIM anxiety was not a significant predictor of intentions to use a PHP.