Active Usage of Mobile Health Applications: Cross-sectional Study

Mobile health applications are being increasingly used for people's health management. The different uses of mobile health applications lead to different health outcomes. Although active usage of mobile health applications is shown to be linked to the effectiveness of mobile health services, the factors that influence people's active usage of mobile health applications are not well studied.

This paper aims to examine the antecedents of active usage of mobile health applications.

Grounded on the 3-factor theory, we proposed 10 attributes of mobile health applications that influence the active usage of mobile health applications through consumers' satisfaction and dissatisfaction. We classified these 10 attributes into 3 categories (ie, excitement attributes, performance attributes, and basic attributes). Using the survey method, 494 valid responses were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Our analysis results revealed that both consumer satisfaction (β=0.351, t=6.299, P<.001) and dissatisfaction (β=-0.251, t=5.119, P<.001) significantly influenced active usage. With regard to the effect of attributes, excitement attributes (β=0.525, t=12.861, P<.001) and performance attributes (β=0.297, t=6.508, P<.001) positively influenced consumer satisfaction, while performance attributes (β=-0.231, t=3.729, P<.001) and basic attributes (β=-0.412, t=7.132, P<.001) negatively influenced consumer dissatisfaction. The results of the analysis confirmed our proposed hypotheses.

Our study provides a novel perspective to study the active usage of mobile health applications. By categorizing the attributes of mobile health applications into 3 categories, the differential effects of different attributes can be tested. Meanwhile, consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction are confirmed to be independent from each other.