A Self-Disclosure Model for Personal Health Information

The use of information technologies (IT) to collect personal health information is growing in popularity via computer-assisted interviewing and a wide variety of healthcare Web sites. However, a review of the literature on computer-assisted interviewing exhibits confounding and equivocal results regarding the effects of IT on individuals’ willingness to disclose socially sensitive health information. Some studies revealed individuals’ heightened concerns about entering their health information into a computer, while other studies exhibited greater willingness to enter sensitive information into a computer than to give it to a personal physician. The pervading lack of clarity in explaining these results may be largely due to limited attempts to model the underlying factors that motivate the self-disclosure of socially sensitive personal health information; most studies examine the relationship between the data collection environment and the willingness to self disclose without iden...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Lotus E. Kam, William G. Chismar
• Keywords: Biometrics, Data Collection Environment, Health Information, HICSS 2003, Personal Health Information, System Sciences