Background: Although personal health records (PHRs) have many benefits, how to effectively enroll them is a worldwide concern, especially in developing countries, and there has been little research targeting both societal and individual factors that affect the enrollment of PHRs.
Objective: To provide evidence and recommendations for the sustainable development of PHRs combined societal and individual determinants.
Methods: A cross-sectional door-to-door survey was conducted with a sample of 1100 individuals aged 15 and older in central China. The main measure was whether residents had enrolled in PHRs through the CHS.
Results: While the overall rate of PHR enrollment was only 27.93%, the willingness to enroll in PHRs among survey participants was much higher (75.86%). Statistically significant variables among societal level were proportion of acquaintances with PHRs and informed consent (OR = 17.09, OR = 31.06, respectively) and among individual level were age, education level, presence of doctor-diagnosed hypertension, and willingness to enroll in PHRs.
Conclusions: Societal determinants would reveal the positive role of psychological bandwagon effect and the ethical principle of informed consent in enrolling PHRs, and individual determinants would reveal the priority demographics for enrolling PHRs, notably the elderly, those with a higher education level and hypertensive patients.
Keywords: bandwagon effect; informed consent; personal health records; societal determinants of health.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.