Get started
Work

Is physician online information sharing always beneficial to patient education? An attention perspective

Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Aims: With the development of information technology, online health platforms and physician online information sharing play an important role in public health management and patient education. Is physician online information sharing always beneficial to patient education? From the attention perspective, this study aims to explore how physician online information sharing influences patient education, considering the contingent roles of physician online reputation and offline expertise. Methods: A 6-month panel data of 61,566 physician-month observations from an online health platform in China was used to tested the proposed hypotheses. Considering the inefficiency and estimated bias of the ordinary least squares regression model, this study conducted the fixed models to test the direct and moderating effects. Results: The results indicate that physician online information sharing is positively related to potential patient education, while the relationship between physician online information sharing and realized patient education is an inverted U-shape. Physician online reputation enhances the positive relationship between physician online information sharing and potential patient education, but physician offline expertise weakens the abovementioned relationship. In addition, physician offline expertise flattens the curvilinear effect of physician online information sharing on realized patient education. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature about attention theory and information sharing for patient education, and provides implications for practice.
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.987766
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,950
OpenAlex ID: W4293770312
FWCI: 1.622
Cites: 74
Cited by: 9
Related to: 10