Privacy Concerns and Disclosure Behavior in a Health Setting

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Patient Privacy

Background:

• Accurate patient information is crucial for quality healthcare.
• Patient privacy concerns can hinder information disclosure, particularly with technology.
• Understanding technology's impact on health information disclosure is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how technology experience influences health information disclosure levels.
• To examine the effect of a health database system on private health information disclosure.
• To compare disclosure intentions between younger and older adults.

Main Methods:

• Participants (12 younger, 12 older adults) interacted with a computerized health data entry system.
• Post-interaction, participants rated the completeness and accuracy of their intended disclosures.
• Study focused on the influence of a specific health database system on disclosure behavior.

Main Results:

• Most participants intended to provide complete and accurate health information via the system.
• Younger adults showed a lower intention to disclose sensitive information compared to older adults.
• The study highlights potential differences in disclosure patterns based on age.

Conclusions:

• Computerized health database systems can facilitate complete and accurate health information disclosure.
• Targeted information gathering strategies may be needed for younger adults.
• Explaining the reason for data requests is important for enhancing patient trust and disclosure.