Exploring factors impacting sharing health-tracking records

With the introduction of modern health technologies, the phenomenon of patients tracking health records has increased considerably in the recent past. The current study aims to examine the sharing of health-tracking records (HTR) by patients with different categories of acquaintances (spouse/partner, relatives, doctors, other). In this paper, we explore the critical factors that impact sharing of self-tracked information across two levels of sensitivity of HTR. Our study investigates how health motivation (HM), perceived health status (PHS), severity of health, and age influence sharing of self-tracked information. To do so, we adapted and applied the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a theoretical framework. The study employed multinomial logistic regression analysis to investigate the various factors that influence sharing of two types of HTR with different acquaintances. The statistical results were weighted to correct for known demographic discrepancies. Results indicated that HM, severity, and age substantially increase the likelihood of sharing HTR with health or medical professionals in comparison to other categories. In contrast, PHS increases the likelihood of information sharing with “other” acquaintances as opposed to with doctors. These findings are consistent with existing theory on HBM, wherein behavior appears to be predicted on the basis of/by both the individual׳s motivation to achieve an outcome and the expectation that a specific action will result in that outcome.