Determinants of Nurses' Continuance Intention to Use Mobile Health Apps in Clinical Nursing Practice: Structural...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Digital Health
• Healthcare Technology Adoption

Background:

• Mobile health (mHealth) apps offer significant benefits in clinical nursing, including improved resource access, patient care, error reduction, and time savings.
• Understanding the factors influencing nurses' sustained adoption of mHealth technology is crucial for its successful integration into healthcare.
• Previous research has shown inconsistent relationships between various factors affecting mHealth adoption among nurses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To extend the expectation-confirmation model (ECM) and investigate the determinants of Iranian nurses' intention to continue using mHealth apps in clinical practice.
• To identify key factors influencing the acceptance and sustained use of mHealth devices among clinical nurses.
• To provide insights into improving digital health implementation for enhanced patient care and clinical efficiency.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study involving 315 nurses from hospitals affiliated with Kashan University of Medical Sciences.
• Development and utilization of the Nurses' Mobile Health Device Acceptance Scale (NMHDA-Scale) and a questionnaire based on the ECM.
• Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the relationships among confirmation, perceived usefulness, social influence, technology anxiety, and mHealth continuance behavior.

Main Results:

• Perceived usefulness was significantly influenced by confirmation and social influence (P<.001).
• New technology anxiety negatively impacted perceived ease of use (P<.001).
• mHealth continuance behavior was positively associated with habits (P=.002), social influence (P<.001), and perceived security risks (P=.008); perceived usefulness did not show a direct influence (P=.15).

Conclusions:

• Sustained mHealth app adoption by nurses is more strongly linked to social influence and confirmed expectations than perceived usefulness.
• Habits and social influence are critical for long-term mHealth adoption, even with the presence of technology anxiety.
• Hospital leaders should implement strategies that promote social reinforcement, address security concerns, and mitigate anxiety through training to enhance mHealth integration and optimize patient care.