Exploring factors influencing U.S. nurses' willingness to use telehealth technology

Telehealth technologies have the potential to increase access to care and better manage older adults’ chronic conditions, yet will only be effective to the extent that healthcare providers are willing to use them. We examined predictors of nurses’ (N = 67) willingness to use telehealth in the context of three models: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT, Venkatesh et al., 2012), the technology acceptance model of the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (Czaja et al. 2006), and a combined model. The strongest predictor of willingness to use was the belief that telehealth would improve job performance (β = .46, p < .001); beliefs about how much effort telehealth requires was also a strong predictor (β = .27, p < .05). Willingness to use was also related to social influences and privacy concerns. Results inform potential interventions to boost telehealth use.