Attachment and patient activation as predictors of the interest and use of telemedical health applications –results of an observational study in primary health care

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine applications are becoming more accepted and offer great potential to support physicians and patients. However, there is an increasing need for research, especially in personal predictors that determine the interest and use of telemedicine and e-health applications. This study aims to identify if attachment and patient activation are potential predictors of the interest in and the use of e-health applications in primary care patients. METHODS: We used data from the cross-sectional observational Weimar TelMed study on 192 patients treated by general practitioners from a practice of family medicine in Thuringia, the middle of Germany. The adult attachment was measured using the ECR-RD12 and patient activation with the PAM-13D. Multiple regression analysis by the General Linear Model was used to evaluate the association between attachment, patient activation, and interest in and use of e-health applications. RESULTS: Patient activation was associated with a higher interest in e-health care. The attachment dimension avoidance was a potential predictor of interest in e-health and e-health-care use. CONCLUSION: Adult attachment is an essential predictor of different ways of healthcare use. While avoidant patients evade contact with general practitioners, self-determined access via e-health seems to improve the health care of these patients. A personalized view might be a basis for the evaluation of individual approaches in Primary Care.