TY - JOUR
T1 - Pediatric caregiver attitudes toward email communication
T2 - Survey in an urban primary care setting
AU - Dudas, Robert Arthur
AU - Crocetti, Michael
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Background: Overall usage of email communication between patients and physicians continues to increase, due in part to expanding the adoption of electronic health records and patient portals. Unequal access and acceptance of these technologies has the potential to exacerbate disparities in care. Little is known about the attitudes of pediatric caregivers with regard to their acceptance of email as a means to communicate with their health care providers. Objective: We conducted a survey to assess pediatric caregiver access to and attitudes toward the use of electronic communication modalities to communicate with health care providers in an urban pediatric primary care clinic. Methods: Participants were pediatric caregivers recruited from an urban pediatric primary care clinic in Baltimore, Maryland, who completed a 35-item questionnaire in this cross-sectional study. Results: Of the 229 caregivers who completed the survey (91.2% response rate), 171 (74.6%) reported that they use email to communicate with others. Of the email users, 145 respondents (86.3%) stated that they would like to email doctors, although only 18 (10.7%) actually do so. Among email users, African-American caregivers were much less likely to support the expanded use of email communication with health care providers (adjusted OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14-0.82) as were those with annual incomes less than US $30,000 (adjusted OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.09-0.74). Conclusions: Caregivers of children have access to email and many would be interested in communicating with health care providers. However, African-Americans and those in lower socioeconomic groups were much less likely to have positive attitudes toward email.
AB - Background: Overall usage of email communication between patients and physicians continues to increase, due in part to expanding the adoption of electronic health records and patient portals. Unequal access and acceptance of these technologies has the potential to exacerbate disparities in care. Little is known about the attitudes of pediatric caregivers with regard to their acceptance of email as a means to communicate with their health care providers. Objective: We conducted a survey to assess pediatric caregiver access to and attitudes toward the use of electronic communication modalities to communicate with health care providers in an urban pediatric primary care clinic. Methods: Participants were pediatric caregivers recruited from an urban pediatric primary care clinic in Baltimore, Maryland, who completed a 35-item questionnaire in this cross-sectional study. Results: Of the 229 caregivers who completed the survey (91.2% response rate), 171 (74.6%) reported that they use email to communicate with others. Of the email users, 145 respondents (86.3%) stated that they would like to email doctors, although only 18 (10.7%) actually do so. Among email users, African-American caregivers were much less likely to support the expanded use of email communication with health care providers (adjusted OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14-0.82) as were those with annual incomes less than US $30,000 (adjusted OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.09-0.74). Conclusions: Caregivers of children have access to email and many would be interested in communicating with health care providers. However, African-Americans and those in lower socioeconomic groups were much less likely to have positive attitudes toward email.
KW - Communication
KW - Electronic mail
KW - Email
KW - Health care disparities
KW - Pediatrics
KW - Primary health care
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U2 - 10.2196/jmir.2738
DO - 10.2196/jmir.2738
M3 - Article
C2 - 24152542
AN - SCOPUS:84887888925
SN - 1439-4456
VL - 15
JO - Journal of Medical Internet Research
JF - Journal of Medical Internet Research
IS - 10
M1 - 2738
ER -