Canadian patient perceptions of electronic personal health records: An empirical investigation

Electronic personal health records (PHRs) have signif icant promise in helping to empower patients and consumers in general to take more responsibility for managing their ow n health, with lower costs for the healthcare system. However, fewempirical studies have been undertaken to understand patient perspectives on the benef its of PHRs. This article describes an empirical study that proposes a theoretical model on PHR adoption and validates that model using the view s of 389 Canadian patients. We found that perceived usefulness, security, privacy, and trust in PHRs, together with personal information technology innovativeness, are signif icant motivators of adoption, w hile computer anxiety may be an important deterrent. Overall, this study is a step tow ard understanding patient view s that are key to the success of electronic PHRs. Grow ing adoption of this novel e-health approach is of importance as it may improve benef its for both patients and society.