Assessment of Use and Preferences Regarding Internet-Based Health Care Delivery: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study

There has been an incremental increase in the use of technology in health care delivery. Feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of interventions based on internet technologies are supported by a growing body of evidence.

The aim of this study was to investigate use and preferences in the general adult population in Germany for remote, internet-based interaction (eg, email, videoconferencing, electronic medical records, apps).

A nationwide cross-sectional questionnaire survey in adults that was representative in terms of age, sex and educational level was carried out.

A total of 22.16% (538/2428) of survey participants reported not using the internet for work or private use. The nonuser phenotype can be described as being older, having lower educational and income status, and living in less populated areas. The majority of participants within the cohort of internet users reported that they would not consider using electronic medical records (973/1849, 52.62%), apps (988/1854, 53.29%), or emails to report symptoms (1040/1838, 56.58%); teleconference with one (1185/1852, 63.98%) or more experts (1239/1853, 66.86%); or participate in video psychotherapy (1476/1853, 79.65%) for the purpose of medical consultation or treatment. Older age and lower educational level were the most robust predictors of assumed future denial of use.

Our results point toward low use and preference rates among the general population for the use of telemedicine. It also seems that those who might benefit from telemedical interventions the most, are, in fact, those who are most hesitating. These low use and preference rates of eHealth should be considered prior to designing and providing future telemedical care, supporting the need for easy-to-use, data secure solutions.