Trust and Privacy: How Patient Trust in Providers is Related to Privacy Behaviors and Attitudes

Abstract

Healthcare today requires extensive sharing and access to patient health information. The use of health information technology (health IT) exacerbates patients' privacy concerns because it expands the availability of patient data to numerous members of the healthcare team. Patient concerns about the privacy of their data may be associated with nondisclosure of their information to providers. Patient trust in physicians, a multi-dimensional perception influenced by patient, physician, and situational factors, can facilitate disclosure and use of health IT. Previous work has done little to explore how specific dimensions of trust in physicians are related to patient information-sharing concerns or behavior. Using data from a nationally-representative survey, we show that patients with higher trust in provider confidentiality have significantly lower likelihood of reporting having ever withheld important health information and lower likelihood of thinking it is important to find out who has looked at their medical records. Patient trust in physician competence is related to higher likelihood of thinking it is important for health care providers to share information electronically This work sheds light on the importance of considering multiple dimensions of trust for patient behavior and attitudes related to their information sharing with health care providers.