Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2021
Publication Title
Healthcare
Volume
9
Issue
7
First page number:
1
Last page number:
16
Abstract
Loneliness or social isolation, recently described as a “behavioral epidemic,” remains a long-standing public health issue, which has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of technology has been suggested to enhance social connectedness and to decrease the negative health outcomes associated with social isolation. However, till today, no theory-based studies were performed to examine the determinants of technology use. Therefore, the current study aims to test theory-based determinants in explaining the adoption of new technology in a nationally representative sample during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 382). A psychometrically reliable and valid instrument based on the multi-theory model (MTM) of health behavior change was administered electronically using a cross-sectional study design. A total of 47.1% of the respondents reported high levels of social isolation, and 40.6% did not use any new technology. Among technology users (59.4%), the three initiation constructs participatory dialogue... (See full abstract in article).
Keywords
Social isolation; Social connectedness; Loneliness; Depression; Technology; Internet; Smartphones; M-health; COVID-19; Pandemic
Disciplines
Health Services Administration
File Format
File Size
811 KB
Language
English
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Repository Citation
Sharma, M.,
Batra, K.,
Flatt, J.
(2021).
Testing the Multi-Theory Model (MTM) to Predict the Use of New Technology for Social Connectedness in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Healthcare, 9(7),
1-16.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9070838