An Investigation of Patients’ Decisions to Use eHealth

eHealth service has received increasing attention. Patients can consult online doctors via the Internet, and then physically visit the doctors for further diagnosis and treatments. Although extant research has focused on the adoption of eHealth services, the decision-making process from online to offline health services still remains unclear. This study aims to examine patients’ decisions to use online and offline health services by integrating the extended valence framework and the halo effect. By analyzing 221 samples with online consultation experiences, the results show that trust significantly influences perceived benefits and perceived risks, while trust, perceived benefits, and perceived risks significantly influence the intention to consult. The intention to consult positively influences the intention to visit. Considering the moderating effects of payment types, the influence of perceived risks on the intention to consult is larger for the free group than for the paid group. The findings are useful to better understand patients’ decisions to use eHealth.

Pay Now or Pay Later: The Impact of Time on Payment Preference in Hotel Booking

The “book now, pay later” phenomenon is one form of payment which has flow-on effects such as increasing last-minute cancelations. To encourage prepayment, some hotels have been offering a price discount or free upgrade for choosing the “pay now” option, but little is known about which incentives can generate better outcomes. This study aims to examine what types of payment options are preferable based on the time between booking and check-in (i.e. temporal distance), and to investigate how the payment options and temporal distance jointly influence perceived risks. The findings demonstrate that while people prefer the pay now with monetary incentive option when traveling time is in the near future, they mostly prefer the pay later option when traveling time is distant. In addition, people planning a trip in the distant future perceive significantly higher risks from the pay now with non-monetary and monetary incentive options than from the pay later option.

Components of Unrealistic Optimism of College Students: The Case of the COVID-19 Pandemic

College students are among the most strongly affected populations by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic because of uncertainty regarding academic success, future careers, and social life during their study period. Their mental health and behavior may dramatically be impacted. The study examined an unrealistic optimism of Israeli college students in assessing the health, security, and economic risks during the pandemic, and the contributions of these perceived risks to the prediction of psychological coping responses, such as well-being, and coping suppressing response of anxiety, expressed during this pandemic. Using social networks, a questionnaire was disseminated to students during the third lockdown that was implemented in Israel because of the pandemic. Depressive and anxiety symptoms, perceived threats, resilience, well-being, hope, and morale were measured using a structured quantitative questionnaire. First, we hypothesized that the three perceived risks would be inversely rated, so perceived health risk would be rated lowest, and perceived economic risk would be rated highest. The second and third hypotheses claimed that psychological coping responses articulated along this pandemic would be predicted by all these perceived risks, as well as the observance of pandemic precaution rules. The fourth hypothesis suggested that the three investigated perceived risks will positively and significantly correlate with each other. The results generally supported the hypotheses and indicated that the unrealistic optimism process was employed quite consistently by the participating students.

Factors Associated with Adolescents’ Support for Product Information and Health Messaging on Alcohol Packaging: A Cross-Sectional Study in the United Kingdom

Aims Adolescents in the UK are among the heaviest drinkers in Europe. The World Health Organization recommends alcohol product labelling to inform consumers about product information and health risks associated with alcohol use. This study investigates support for product information and health messaging on alcohol packaging among UK adolescents. Methods The 2019 UK Youth Alcohol Policy Survey was an online cross-sectional survey among 3388 adolescents aged 11–19. Participants indicated their support for seven forms of messaging on packaging (e.g. number of alcohol units, links to health conditions). Logistic regression models investigated associations between support for each of the seven forms and alcohol use, perceived risks of alcohol use, and previous exposure to messaging. Results Between 60 and 79% of adolescents were supportive of different aspects of product labelling. Compared to lower-risk drinkers, higher-risk drinkers (AUDIT-C 5+) had higher odds of supporting including the number of alcohol units (OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.31–2.54), calories (OR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.04–1.68), and strength of the product (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.19–2.52) but lower odds of supporting including information on alcohol-related health conditions (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.53–0.87). Adolescents who perceived risks of alcohol use more strongly were more likely to support all forms of product information and messaging. Conclusions The majority of adolescents supported improved alcohol labelling. Higher-risk drinkers were supportive of improved product information but less supportive of health-related messaging. Adolescents who believe alcohol carries health risks were more likely to support messaging.

Determinants of stakeholders’ attitudes and intentions toward supporting the use of Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes for dengue control

Background A recent approach in controlling dengue is by using the Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquito (WiAM). The approach has been reported to be more effective than traditional methods, such as fogging. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the factors predicting its acceptance among stakeholders before implementing this technology more widely in Malaysia. Methods The survey data were collected from two primary stakeholder groups using a stratified random sampling technique. The two primary stakeholder groups were scientists (n = 202) and the public (n = 197) in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia, a hot spot area known for the high rate of dengue cases. The respondents answered questions on a seven-point Likert scale survey regarding trust in key players, attitudes toward nature versus materialism, religiosity, perceived benefits, perceived risks, attitudes, and intentions. The data were analyzed using Smart Partial Least Square (SmartPLS) software (version 3.2.6) to determine the predictors influencing attitudes and intentions to support the use of WiAM technology. Results The results indicated a strong positive relationship between attitudes and intentions to support the use of WiAM (β = 0.676, p < 0.001). The most important significant predictor for attitudes was perceived benefits (β = 0.493, p < 0.001), followed by perceived risks (β = − 0.080, p = 0.048). Trust in key players, attitudes toward nature versus material, and religiosity had indirect relationships with attitudes through the perceived benefits and risks. Conclusions The identified predictors can serve as indicators for the decision-making process regarding WiAM implementation in Malaysia and other developing countries with similar demographics and cultures.

Perceived Risk of Covid-19 and Trust on m-Health Transaction Intention

The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of trust antecedents on the intent of transactions in mHealth applications. The antecedents of trust included perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived quality, perceived safety, and perceived Covid 19 risks. Perceived risks of COVID19 were also examined for moderating effects on the relationship between trust and m-Health transaction intention. The study used a quantitative method with a survey approach. Our surveys are distributed online via the Lime Survey app. 253 respondents responded to the questionnaire according to the criteria. Results showed that the antecedents that had a significant impact on trust were perceived usefulness (P = 0.012), perceived quality (P = 0.002), and perceived safety (P = 0.000). On the other hand, the perceived ease of use (P = 0.566) and the perceived risk (P = 0.871) did not significantly affect trust. Trust (P = 0.000) and perceived risks of COVID19 (P = 0.011) directly affect m-Health transaction intention. The study also found that the perceived risk of COVID19 did not impact the consumer trust in m-Health but directly impacted transaction intention.

Open Government Data: Development, Practice, and Challenges

This chapter explores the concept of open data with a focus on Open Government Data (OGD). The chapter presents an overview of the development and practice of Open Government Data at the international level. It also discusses the advantages and benefits of Open Government Data. The scope and characteristics of OGD, in addition to the perceived risks, obstacles and challenges are also presented. The chapter closes with a look at the future of open data and open government data in particular. The author adopted literature review as a method and a tool of data collection for the purpose of writing this chapter.