Predictors of Online Patient Portal Use Among a Diverse Sample of Emerging Adults: Cross-sectional Survey
UMass Chan Affiliations
Population and Quantitative Health SciencesDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2022-02-15Keywords
cross-sectionaleHealth
emerging adults
internet
literacy
patient portal
portal
prediction
predictor
sample
survey
usage
young adult
UMCCTS funding
Metadata
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Background: Health self-management is increasingly being influenced by emerging health information technologies (IT), especially online patient portals. Patient portals provide patients with direct access to their health information, electronic tools to manage their health, and additional opportunities to engage with their care team. Previous studies have found that patient portal use is highest among patients with high eHealth literacy, the ability to find health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to solve a health problem. The role of eHealth literacy on patient portal use appears to be especially strong among older adults with chronic diseases. The use of patient portals among emerging adults (ages 18-29) is much less understood. Although generally healthy, emerging adults are more regular IT users and just beginning to independently navigate the health care system. A good understanding of how emerging adults are using online patient portals and what factors, including eHealth, impact portal use is lacking. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe patient portal use and explore the predictors of portal use among a diverse sample of emerging adults. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study that used convenience sampling was conducted at two universities. Data on demographics, health care encounters, eHealth literacy, patient engagement, and use of patient portal features (administrative and clinical) were obtained via self-report and summarized. Logistic regression models were used to examine factors associated with portal use. Results: Of the 340 emerging adults, 257 (76%) were female, 223 (65%) White, 156 (47%) low income, and 184 (54%) reported having patient portal access. Of those reporting access, 142 (77%) used at least 1 portal feature and 42 (23%) reported using none. Significant predictors were patient engagement (odds ratio [OR] 1.08, 95% CI 1.04-1.13, P=.001) and total encounters (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.05-1.44, P=.009) but not eHealth literacy. Hispanic and Asian emerging adults were more likely to be frequent users of clinical portal features than White emerging adults (Hispanic: OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.03-8.52, P=.04; Asian: OR 4.28, 95% CI 1.08-16.89, P=.04). Conclusions: We found that about half of emerging adults had access to a patient portal. Among those with access, a majority reported using at least one portal feature. Factors associated with increased portal use included increased patient engagement and total clinical encounters. Self-reported eHealth literacy was not associated with patient portal use in this diverse sample of emerging adults. This may have been due to high overall eHealth literacy levels in this population of frequent IT users. There may also be racial/ethnic differences that are important to consider, as we found Hispanic and Asian emerging adults reported more frequent portal use than White emerging adults. Interventions to promote patient portal use among emerging adults should include strategies to increase awareness of portal access and engagement among patients with fewer clinical encounters, with a focus on preventative health management.Source
Wright JA, Volkman JE, Leveille SG, Amante DJ. Predictors of Online Patient Portal Use Among a Diverse Sample of Emerging Adults: Cross-sectional Survey. JMIR Form Res. 2022 Feb 15;6(2):e33356. doi: 10.2196/33356. PMID: 35166686; PMCID: PMC8889472.DOI
10.2196/33356Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/51332PubMed ID
35166686Rights
©Julie A Wright, Julie E Volkman, Suzanne G Leveille, Daniel J Amante. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 15.02.2022. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.; Attribution 4.0 InternationalDistribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.2196/33356
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as ©Julie A Wright, Julie E Volkman, Suzanne G Leveille, Daniel J Amante. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 15.02.2022. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete
bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license
information must be included.