Applying health belief model to explore the adoption of telecare

The purpose of the study is to integrate Self Efficacy with the Health Belief Model in order to explore the usage intention model of Telecare systems. The proposed framework is validated with respondents from Nantou County, which is located in Taiwan. This study emphasizes that hospital managers should pay more attention to understanding the five concepts of health belief of elderly (Perceived Susceptibility, Perceived Severity, Perceived Benefits, Perceived Barriers and Cues to Action), and improving Self Efficacy of elderly. We adopted the questionnaire survey for data collection, and examined our hypotheses by applying the structural equation modeling (SEM) method to validate the model. The integrative viewpoint implies that a successful telecare system is not only an information system but also a medical service provider/department to the patients/residents. The findings may be used as a theoretical basis for future research and can also offer empirical foresight to the executives and managers of hospitals when they initially introduce and promote the telecare systems into their surrounding community.