Obstacles to continued use of personal health records

The purpose of this paper was to examine organisational change in a hospital setting. Specifically, the paper examines how patients responded to the introduction of personal health records (PHR). This research was an empirical investigation based on surveys completed by 136 patients in the United States. The paper draws on Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Model to explain patient responses to new PHR technology. The results indicate that affective and cognitive resistance factors exist, but the presence of change information can mitigate the resistance. While both resistance factors were relevant, the study found that reducing cognitive resistance had a stronger influence than reducing affective resistance. This research will contribute to the health care literature by offering insight into the factors associated with resistance and the continued use of PHR systems. The research also contributes to the individual IT literature by examining attitudes and beliefs that lead to continued use of IT systems.