1 s2.0 S1877050922011152 Main

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26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering

Systems (KES 2022)
26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering
Systems (KES 2022)
E-health information as a support of health information technology
E-health informationsystems – patients
as a support attitudes
of health information technology
systems – patients
Magdalena attitudes
Sobon*
Magdalena Sobon*
Instutute of Economics and Finance University of Szczecin, Mickiewicza 64, 71-101 Szczecin Poland
*
*
Instutute of Economics and Finance University of Szczecin, Mickiewicza 64, 71-101 Szczecin Poland
Abstract
The use of e-health information is becoming a common practice among patients, and the decision to browse the Internet is related
Abstract
to attitudes towards online health information. How these attitudes are shaped depends on the impact of many variables. This author
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© 2022 The Authors.
implementation Published
of actions by ELSEVIER
improving e-health B.V.
competences of the population is a significant step towards better functioning
© 2022
This is The
an Authors.
open access Published
article by Elsevier
under the B.V.
CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
decision
This is ansupport
open of health
access careunder
article systems.
the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review
© 2022 The under
Authors. responsibility
Published of ELSEVIER
by the scientificB.V.
committee of KES International
Peer-review
Keywords:
under
e-health
responsibility
information;
of
patient,
the
health
scientific
information
committee
technology
of the 26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and
This is an open
Intelligent access article
Information under the CC
& Engineering BY-NC-ND
Systems license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
(KES 2022)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of KES International
Keywords: e-health information; patient, health information technology
1. Introduction
1. Introduction
The dynamic development of the use of the Internet in the area of health creates new opportunities not only for
medical staff or managers, but also for patients. Diverse application of this technology using health information
The dynamic development of the use of the Internet in the area of health creates new opportunities not only for
medical staff or managers, but also for patients. Diverse application of this technology using health information
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +48-91-444-21-02; fax: +48-91-444-20-27.

E-mail address: magdalena.sobon@usz.edu.pl
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +48-91-444-21-02; fax: +48-91-444-20-27.
1877-0509 © 2022 The
E-mail address: Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.
magdalena.sobon@usz.edu.pl
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review
1877-0509 ©under
2022responsibility
The Authors. of the scientific
Published committeeB.V.
by ELSEVIER of KES International
Peer-review©under
1877-0509 2022responsibility
The Authors. of
Published by Elsevier
the scientific B.V. of KES International
committee
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent
Information & Engineering Systems (KES 2022)
10.1016/j.procs.2022.09.230
1724 Magdalena Sobon et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 1723–1732
2 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000
networks, electronic records or telemedicine, makes it possible to monitor a patient's condition, communicate and
transfer data between the actors in the system. This makes it possible to engage patients in the treatment process,
increase knowledge of and about patients, personalise and individualise medical care and involve the patient in
decision-making. The purpose of activities involving the transfer, collection, analysis, processing and sharing of all
kinds of information is therefore to support decision-making and health education [1, 2], where e-information plays a
significant role.
According to European statistics, in 2021 47% of Poles aged 16-74 (EU average is 55%) searched the Internet for
information about injuries, diseases, nutrition or health improvement [3]. This is a result of the perceived benefits and
universality of the tool that is the world wide web, where patients seeking health information are motivated by
information need, and perceive the gap between what they know and what they want to know [4]. Using online
information for this purpose involves skills and attitudes [5] and triggering this process depends on many factors [6,
7] of both personal and contextual nature. The former includes socio-demographic characteristics and psycho-social
variables, such as personality, expectations, goals, beliefs, values, attitudes, skills or resources. The latter includes the
environment, current events, information sources, the context of information seeking and the search process [8].
Attitudes and behaviours are closely related - in fact, attitude is regarded as a "predictor of future actions" [9].
In the context of patients' acquisition of e-health information, the author examines the impact of factors related to
the use of the Internet for this purpose, i.e. patients' willingness to use the Internet and its acceptance as a technology
serving as a source of health information. The aim of the study was to verify a model describing the process of shaping
attitudes towards the use of the Internet for health purposes as an important element of the acquisition of knowledge
that is a support for systems within Health Information Technology.
2. Patients' attitudes and behaviour towards e-health information
Attitude is an important part of the process of acquiring health information and using it in the health care system.
Its numerous definitions are linked by the concept of relative stability [10]. It can be understood, among others, as
"readiness, a tendency to respond in a certain manner when confronted with certain stimuli" [11, p.203] or "a general
orientation that can make a person - when given certain stimuli - behave or respond in a certain way" [12, p.269]. This
multidimensional construct consisting of an emotional, cognitive and behavioural component [13] is reinforced by
beliefs and is most often associated with strong feelings, generating specific behaviours [11].
Internet attitudes can be defined and expressed in terms of impressions or feelings about behaviour when using this
technology [14, 15] for a specific purpose, such as health. To measure them, the IAS (Internet Attitude Scale) is
usually used, a modification of the CAS (Computer Attitude Scale) by G.S. Nickell and J.N. Pinto [16], or its
transformed version [17]. In practice, research focuses on selected aspects, mainly perceptions of utility, ease of use
and self-efficacy [18], feelings of anxiety, joy, aversion, optimism and pessimism [15], cultural factors [5, 18],
evaluation of Internet use [19].
In determining attitudes, beliefs about the consequences of certain actions are estimated and the degree to which
they are desired by the individual is assessed [20]. This individual judgement can consequently take on different
dimensions: positive or negative, pleasant or unpleasant, harmful or beneficial [21] regardless of what it refers to. The
Internet and its potential use as a source of health information also evokes certain feelings and attitudes, but not all
users have the same positive emotions or behaviours. It is therefore worth investigating why some people are willing
to seek information online in certain situations and others are unwilling to do so, even when it is possible [22].
Individuals with favourable online attitudes tend to engage more with online activities. Consequently, they may be
able to search for more complex information effectively, gaining more benefits from doing so [17].
3. Theories and models of online health information search
The application of theories and models to the use information technology in relation to health issues began in the
late 1990s. This very broad and diverse area called Health Information Technology (HIT), or "knowledge, skills and
tools that enable information to be collected, managed, used and shared to support health care delivery and promote
health and wellbeing" [23] is today widely covered the literature. The first studies were conducted for telemedicine,
first testing unsuccessfully the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and its different versions, and the Theory of
Magdalena Sobon et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 1723–1732 1725
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 3
Planned Behaviour TPB [24, 25]. Subsequent attempts, however, have shown that these models and theories can be
successfully applied to the needs of individual health care components [21].
The process of testing and adapting HIT solutions typically involves using the TAM model as a conceptual
framework and then removing [24, 26] or adding predictor variables [25, 27]. These variables are either treated as
independent predictors of intention to use or actual use of health IT, or used to predict TAM variables such as perceived
ease of use and perceived usefulness. Among the variables introduced are perceived characteristics of the information
system describing how well the system works [28], its relevance to the work being done [29], personal characteristics
of users [30], and characteristics of the organisation [30]. In addition to the basic TAM version, tests include TAM2
[31], UTAUT (Universal Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) [32], and a hybrid of UTAUT, TAM and
TPB (Theory of Planned Behaviour) [33]. Sometimes TAM is compared to or combined with another model, for
example TPB [34] or HBM [21, 35].
The application and testing by researchers of TAM for the use of the Internet by patients as a source of health
information is popular. Research in this area was done i.a. by Liang, Xue and Byrd [29], Ahadzadeh, Pahlevan, Ong
and Khong [35], Klein [36], Jo, Song and Kim [37], Kim and Park [38], Kim, Han, Yoo and Yun [39], Tao, Yuan,
Shao, Li, Zhou and Qu [40], Wong, Yeung, Ho, Tse and Lam [41], Yun and Park [42]. TAM seems to provide a good
basis for investigating the factors influencing the acceptance of different information technologies used for health
purposes by both patients and medical staff. When variables are added for a specific technology, such as the Internet,
the result is a measurement tool that satisfactorily explains the behaviour of its users.
4. Survey conceptual model
The aim of the study is to verify the model describing the process of shaping attitudes towards the use of the Internet
for health purposes. This process is considered an important element of knowledge acquisition supporting systems in
the area of Health Information Technology. Various factors are related to patients' readiness to use the Internet and
accept it as a technology allowing them to access sources of health information. The objective is to simplify the
relationships and focus on the essentials in the original concepts based on elements of the well-known and common
technology acceptance model [43] after modification [44] as extended by Yun and Park [42]. The elements associated
with patients' use of the Internet to obtain health information are shown in Figure 1.
Health consciousness H1 Perceived ease of use

H8
H6
H2 H9 Attitude towards using the

Perceived health risk Perceived usefulness Internet as a source of health
information
H3
H7
H4 H10
Internet health
Perceived credibility
information use efficacy H5
Figure 1: Conceptual model of the research
The study adopted the following hypotheses:

H1: Patient health awareness has a significant impact on the perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source of health
information.
H2: The patient's perceived health risk has a significant impact on the perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source
of health information.
H3: Patient self-efficacy in searching for health information on the Internet has a significant impact on the perceived
ease of using the Internet as a source of health information.
usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information.
reliability of online health information.
H6: The ease of use of the Internet as a source of health information perceived by the patient has a significant impact
on the perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information.
H7: The credibility of online health information perceived by the patient has a significant impact on the perceived
usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information.
H8: The ease of using the Internet as a source of health information perceived by the patient has a significant impact
on attitudes towards using the Internet as a source of health information.
H9: The usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information perceived by the patient has a significant impact
on attitudes towards using the Internet as a source of health information.
H10: The credibility of online health information perceived by the patient has a significant impact on attitudes towards
using the Internet as a source of health information.
Based on the up-to-date knowledge and measurement scales used by researchers to measure individual elements of
the concept, statements were constructed that most accurately and fully yet compactly describe the individual
components of the model:
• variables related to patients' propensity to use the Internet as a source of health information: health awareness,
perceived health risks and efficacy in searching for health information on the Internet,
• variables explaining the acceptance of the Internet as a technology used by patients: ease of using the Internet as
a source of health information, usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information and credibility of
online health information,
• patients' attitudes towards using the Internet as a source of health information.
Health consciousness derived from the HBM model understood as concern about possible deterioration in health
being a motivation for action was examined from the viewpoint of patients' engagement with their own health, which
may result in seeking information online. Because "measurements of health motivation have generally included only
one item, usually expressing general 'concern' about a health condition [45 p.37] the single most general statement
was used for measurement: "I am involved in matters relating to my health".
Perceived health risk also drawn from the HBM model is the seriousness with which the patient views the
possibility of losing health. Because people who consider themselves vulnerable to illness believe that any available
course of action that reduces this risk is worth pursuing, '...they are likely to take actions that they believe will reduce
it [46 p.47]. This includes searching for information on the internet. A measurement scale [42] involving an assessment
of belief in personal risk of disease susceptibility and seriousness was reduced to the statement: "I am afraid of
developing the disease and losing my health".
Self-efficacy in seeking health-related content online means that the patient is able to find the necessary information
without difficulty, thus expanding their knowledge in this area. The variable introduced into the model of Yun and
Park [42] originally measured by Internet self-efficacy and consumers' subjective health knowledge, took the form of
the statement "I can search the Internet for health information efficiently and effectively" in the study. This ability
contributes significantly to the perception of the Internet as an easy-to-use and credible source of information [47].
Perceived ease of use of the Internet as a source of health information is a variable taken from the TAM model. In
the model, it determined the extent to which people consider the Internet to be an easy-to-use tool, which is related to
the acceptance of information technologies [48]. In the context of the Internet as a source of health information, ease
of use is a question of the trouble-free use of the network for a health purpose. It is relevant to the decision to choose
the Internet as a place to seek answers to health-related questions [42]. In the literature, its measurement includes
flexibility, ease of use and handling, mental effort or comprehensibility [49]. For assessment, this statement was used:
"I easily search for health-related information on the Internet", which most fully captures the idea of the scale initially
having 14 and eventually 5 items [42].
Usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information is another variable borrowed from the TAM model.
Used to assess the extent to which an individual believes that using a particular system would improve their
performance [44], in relation to the Internet as a source of health information it means how much using disease
information from the Internet would improve patients' performance in this area [42]. As a consequence of treating
usefulness as a tool that improves performance, efficiency and quality of work or productivity [49], the study described
above attributed it a role of health supporting activities. The scale for evaluating Internet usefulness, like ease of use,
originally consisting of 14 items and eventually reduced to 5 [42], in the study is represented by the statement: "The
Internet as a source of health information supports me in health activities".
Perceived credibility of online health information introduced in Yun and Park's [42] model was used to assess the
contextual aspect of the Internet. The relationship between perceived credibility and perceived usefulness was based
on previous studies [50, 51]. It was identified as a key factor influencing attitude and intention to use disease
information found online. Originally measured using West's four-element instrument [52] including items on
credibility, timeliness, authority and accuracy of disease information provided online, it was reduced to the statement
"I find online health information credible and up-to-date".
Patients' attitudes towards the use of the Internet as a source of health information is an adaptation of individual
behavioural assessment along a specific dimension (e.g. good/bad, harmful/beneficial) [53] from the TAM model to
the health domain. As "a readiness, an inclination to respond in a certain way to certain stimuli" [11 p. 203] is most
often associated with strong feelings and generates specific behaviours. By definition, it is an element that depends
on the perceived ease of use of the Internet and its usefulness in searching for online health information and the
credibility of Internet health information [54]. It characterises patients' attitudes and feelings about the use of this
modern medium to shape health knowledge. In relation to the use of the Internet as a source of health information,
attitude is shaped by previous experiences and is considered a predictor of future actions [9 p. 215]. Attitude, by design
measured on a scale of five items [54] reduced by Yun and Park [42] and Kim and Park [38] to three, in this study
took the form of two statements describing attitudes towards the Internet and the information found therein. These
are: "I am positive about using the Internet as a reliable source of health information" and "I think it is useful to
manage my health by looking for health information on the Internet”.
5. Material and methods
In order to collect data, a primary survey was performed in November 2019, involving 300 patients of the West
Pomeranian voivodeship, randomly selected users of the Internet as a source of health information. First,
administrative units or poviats were selected at random, followed by the random choice of health care entities from
which the patients came. The questionnaire for the direct survey included 8 statements describing particular elements
of the research concept to be evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale using the following terms: I completely agree (5), I
agree (4), I neither agree nor disagree (3), I disagree (2), I completely disagree (1).
Calculations and analyses of relationships between variables were performed using an Excel spreadsheet and the
Statistica 13.3 software package. Contingency tables were used to determine the significance and strength of the
relationship between independent and dependent variables. Significance was tested using Pearson's χ2 test of
independence, while the strength of correlation was tested using Cramer's V coefficient. Kendall's tau-b coefficient
was calculated to determine the direction of the relationship.
The research sample was characterised both in terms of population: gender, age, education, and subjective
assessment of their own health condition and frequency of visits to the general practitioner (GP). In terms of health,
patients with rather good health dominate (50.3%), and very few people assess their condition as very bad (less than
1%). Most respondents are women (61.7%). According to the age structure, the sample is most evenly distributed
between the ranges compared to the other metric characteristics, with a slight dominance of patients aged 18-35 years
(35%).
6. Research results and discussion
Based on the conducted research, 10 research hypotheses were verified. As a result of the analyses, all of them
found empirical confirmation at the significance level of α=0.05 (Table 1 and Table 2).
Table 1: Relationships between the variables of the conceptual model part 1

Dependent
Independent variable Perceived ease of use Perceived usefulness Perceived credibility
variable
H1 p=0.00000
Health consciousness - V Cramer = 0.2424 -
tau-b Kendall=0.2491
H2 p=0.00000
Perceived health risk - V Cramer = 0.2156 -
H3 p=0.00000 H4 p=0.00000 H5 p=0.00000
Internet health information use
V Cramer = 0.6809 V Cramer = 0.4859 V Cramer = 0.3226
efficacy
tau-b Kendall=0.7801 tau-b Kendall=0.5872 tau-b Kendall=0.4056
Table 2: Relationships between the variables of the conceptual model part 2

Dependent
Attitude towards using the
Independent variable Perceived usefulness Internet as a source of health
information
variable
H6 p=0.0000 H8 p=0.0000
Perceived ease of use V Cramer = 0.5151 V Cramer = 0.4637
tau-b Kendall=0.5685 tau-b Kendall=0.5094
H9 p=0.0000
Perceived usefulness - V Cramer = 0.5719
H7 p=0.0000 H10 p=0.0000
Perceived credibility V Cramer = 0.5211 V Cramer = 0.7014
tau-b Kendall=0.611 tau-b Kendall=0.824
Patients' health awareness, understood as being involved in matters concerning their own health, significantly
positively influences the perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information (with parameter values
p=0.0000: V=0.24242 and Tb=0.1465), confirming the hypothesis H1, although the strength of the association is weak.
Perceived health risk, understood as the seriousness with which the patient views the possibility of losing his or
her health, significantly positively influences the perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information
(with a parameter value of p=0.0000: V=0.2156 and T b=0.1465), confirming the hypothesis H2, although here too the
strength of the association is weak.
Patients' self-efficacy in searching for health information on the Internet, understood as the ability to find the needed
information without problems, significantly positively influences: perceived ease of using the Internet as a source of
health information (with parameter value p=0.0000: V=0.68092156 and T b=0.7801), perceived usefulness of the
Internet as a source of health information (with parameter value p=0.0000: V=0.4859 and T b=0.5872) and perceived
credibility of Internet health information (with parameter value p=0.0000: V=0.3226 2156 and T b=0.4056).
Hypotheses H3, H4 and H5 are therefore confirmed. In the first case the relationship is strong, in the second and third
case it is moderate.
Hypothesis H6 assuming a direct relationship between the perceived ease of use of the Internet as a source of health
information meaning the extent to which people consider the Internet to be an easy-to-use tool and the perceived
usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information was also empirically confirmed (with the parameter value
of p=0.0000: V=0.5151 and Tb=0.5685). The association is significant, positive and strong.
Similarly, the impact of the perceived credibility of online health information understood as confidence in the
perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information (with the parameter value of p=0.0000: V=0.5211
and Tb=0.611). The association is also significant and positive, but slightly stronger. Hypothesis H 7 was therefore
empirically confirmed.
Patients' attitudes towards using the Internet as a source of health information, understood as readiness and
inclination to use the Internet for health purposes, are shaped by three variables. The perceived ease of use (with
parameter value p=0.0000: V=0.4637 and T b=0.5094), usefulness (with parameter value p=0.0000: V=0.5719 and
Tb=0.6483) and credibility of the Internet as a source of health information (V=0.7014 and T b=0.824 with parameter
value p=0.0000) significantly positively influence these attitudes, confirming hypotheses H 8, H9 and H10 .The strength
of the relationship in the case of ease of use should be considered moderate, usefulness - high, credibility - highest.
The study shows that all relationships described in the study conceptual design were statistically confirmed, i.e. the
patient’s attitudes towards the use of e-health information are influenced by factors shaping the use of the Internet as
a source of health information.
Patients' self-efficacy in searching for health information on the Internet facilitates the use of the Internet for health
purposes, increases the perceived usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information and the perceived
credibility of Internet health information. Hence, the more seamlessly patients use the Internet, the easier, more useful
and more reliable they find it as a tool for finding health content. This rather obvious relationship is confirmed by
other studies in addition to the model developers [38, 42, 55]. According to them, there are relationships between the
effectiveness of health information use and perceived ease of use and perceived credibility, but no relationship was
shown between self-efficacy and usefulness, which the author explained as the reflection of the lack of practical
usefulness of disease information from the Internet for improving health activity management skills and increasing
participation in health-related decision-making. Under the conditions of the current study, such a relationship did
occur, suggesting greater confidence among study patients in seeking and using information from the Internet.
In addition to self-efficacy, perceived health risk and patient health awareness are also factors supporting perceived
usefulness in the study. Both these variables increase the usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information.
The results are consistent with the logic of supposing that if a patient perceives a health risk and wants to manage their
health, they reach for the natural information tool of the Internet today, and with previous studies [35]. Health
awareness was identified there as an important motive for health activity [56, 57] and identified as a significant
predictor of perceived usefulness, attitude and intention to use the Internet as a source of disease information [42]. It
has also been shown therein that seeking information by people is triggered by their need for knowledge and degree
of interest in information and significantly and positively related to their information seeking behaviour [58, 59]. As
for perceived health risk, previous studies found it to be one of the major predictors of online information seeking
behaviour [42; 60]. Patients therefore demand access to disease information, as is evident from findings in general
studies of information-seeking behaviour [61, 62].
Analyses also show strong relationships of patients' attitudes towards the use of the Internet as a source of health
information with the perceived ease of use of the Internet, the credibility and usefulness of the Internet as a source of
health information. It turns out that not only as expected, all the mentioned variables increase, although with different
strength, the positive attitude of patients towards the Internet and health information found there in a direct manner.
The perceived ease of use of the Internet and the credibility of online health information also affect these attitudes
indirectly, through usefulness, which is a kind of an aggregate variable combining the influence of other variables.
This is supported by the literature, where perceived ease of use, usefulness and credibility have also been identified
as having a positive impact on attitudes towards the Internet as a source of health information [35, 38, 42, 44, 54]. Of
the three variables in the study, credibility has the strongest influence on attitudes and the literature identifies it as a
key determinant of patients' attitudes and intention to use online disease information [42]. Other studies [63, 64]
indicate that acceptance models can be created by focusing on the nature of the use of information systems oriented
towards productivity and pleasure. Patients using the Internet to obtain information about diseases, however, are more
interested in the contextual than the technical aspects of websites [55] and consequently information quality becomes
a key and priority issue. Behaviour on the Internet is therefore purposeful rather than just easy and enjoyable [65, 66].
7. Conclusion
Because the Internet, a revolution in information and communication technologies, has motivated users to seek,
create and share health-related information [67] becoming for many as important and useful a tool in acquiring health
knowledge as electronic services in other areas of life [68], in contemporary health care it remains an important
element supporting the system. The study looked into the process of shaping patients' attitudes towards the use of the
Internet for health purposes as an important element of knowledge acquisition that supports systems within Health
Information Technology. The research goal of verifying the model of E.K.Yun and H-A.Park was achieved. The goal
addressed those factors affecting patients' readiness to use the Internet as a source of health information and to justify
the acceptance of the Internet as a technology shaping these attitudes. It was found that health awareness, perceived
health risk, self-efficacy in searching the Internet for health information, ease of using the Internet as a source of health
information, usefulness of the Internet as a source of health information, and credibility of Internet health information
significantly shape the attitudes of patients' use of e-health information. This result from compactly devised
measurement is better than that of the concept creator, as previously it had not been possible to show a significant
effect of two of the examined factors on perceived usefulness, i.e. perceived ease of use of the Internet and self-
efficacy in searching for health information on the Internet [42].
The knowledge of motivations and attitudes of patients in searching for health e-information allows us to get a
deeper insight into patients as participants of the health care system, and to gain confidence that the implementation
of measures to improve e-health competences of the general public is a significant step towards improved decision
support systems in health care. Due to the variability of the environment, as well as the limitations of the study in
terms of its regional character and the simplified scale of measurement, it is worthwhile to continue investigations.
Analyses and tests should address the factors and relationships that determine the use of online health information due
to the possibility of identifying barriers and planning activities to improve people’s information technology skills.
This will assist in increasing the acceptance and use of health information technology, in developing and assessing
the capability of available tools to meet patient needs and expectations, and in increasing the chances for successful
implementation of this technology [69]. An educated and informed patient means more efficient health care systems.
Acknowledgements
The data and the analysis are a part of the paper’s author’s bigger patients’ and physicians’ research titled “Doctor-
patient relationship in terms of access to the online health information” [70].
The project is financed within the framework of the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education
under the name "Regional Excellence Initiative" in the years 2019-2022, project number 001/RID/2018/19, the amount
of financing PLN 10,684,000.00.
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26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering

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2. Patients' attitudes and behaviour towards e-health information

3. Theories and models of online health information search

4. Survey conceptual model

Health consciousness H1 Perceived ease of use

H2 H9 Attitude towards using the

Figure 1: Conceptual model of the research

The study adopted the following hypotheses:

5. Material and methods

6. Research results and discussion

Table 1: Relationships between the variables of the conceptual model part 1

Table 2: Relationships between the variables of the conceptual model part 2

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