Factors impacting medical students' behavioral intentions and use behavior to use mobile applications for health care escort services (MA-HCES) in Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Background: Mobile applications for health care escort services (MA-HCES) have emerged as an innovative solution to assist patients during hospital visits and improve service delivery efficiency. Despite their growing presence, their adoption among specific populations such as medical students remains understudied. This research aimed to evaluate the effects of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes, facilitating conditions and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention and the utilization of MA-HCES among medical college students.

Methods: Employing a quantitative research design, data were collected through questionnaires distributed to the target population of medical college students. The data were analyzed and the research hypotheses were tested via the item-objective congruence (IOC) index, pilot test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) methods.

Results: Findings indicated that perceived usefulness exerted the most significant influence on the behavioral intention to utilize MA-HCES. Additionally, perceived ease of use, attitudes, facilitating conditions and perceived behavioral control had positive effects on college students' behavioral intention to use MA-HCES. Consequently, behavioral intention was found to significantly influence actual use behavior.

Conclusions: A survey was conducted among 511 medical college students to collect data, and a SEM was used to test the research model. The findings suggest that perceived ease of use, attitudes, facilitating conditions, and perceived behavioral control positively influence college students' intention to utilize MA-HCES. Therefore, behavioral intention has a substantial effect on use behavior. This study introduces a novel model that can accurately forecast the behavioral intentions of medical college students to use MA-HCES, making valuable contributions to both practical application and theoretical understanding.