Interpersonal influences on self-management in the eHealth era: predicting the uses of eHealth tools for self-care in America

Abstract

Drawing on the social cognitive theory and the comprehensive model of information seeking, this study proposes a theoretical framework that systematically examines the role of interpersonal factors in individuals’ self-management in the eHealth context. The framework was tested with a sample of 965 eHealth users drawn from the National Cancer Institute’s 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey. Structural equation modeling was performed to model the relationships among patient-centered communication, social support, self-efficacy, perceptions of eHealth tools, and eHealth behaviors. The results established social support and patient-centered communication as two important sources of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy together with characteristics of eHealth tools were associated with higher utility of eHealth tools, which further predicted higher levels of eHealth behaviors. The results show that incorporating interpersonal factors in health interventions may enhance the targets’ self-efficacy in self-management and indirectly motivates eHealth behaviors.