Effects of patient empowerment using mental health apps on trust in health care providers and patient compliance: Cross-sectional survey (Preprint)

Abstract

Non-compliance to treatment is known to be critical in mental healthcare services. Yet, improving patient compliance with mental health issues remains an issue. Today, mental health apps are becoming increasingly used by individuals living with mental health disorders. These apps are supposed to facilitate patient empowerment, which would lead to greater patient trust in the health care provider and patient compliance.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of patient empowerment on trust in the health care provider and patient compliance in the context of mental health apps.

A total of 364 responses were collected from Canadian adult users of mental health apps diagnosed with mental health disorders. The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling was employed to test the reliability and validity of the measurement model. The path coefficients of the structural model were also calculated to test our hypotheses.

The results showed that patient empowerment gained through mental health apps positively influenced patient trust in the health care provider (β=.321, P<.001). Patient trust in the health care provider also had a positive effect on patient compliance (β=.728, P<.001). The relationship between empowerment and patient compliance was not significant (β=.062, P=.21). Interestingly, the data highlights that the effect of patient empowerment on patient compliance was fully mediated by trust in the health care provider (β=.233, P<.001). Additionally, the results show that patient empowerment gained on the mental health app involves two dimensions: a process and an outcome.

This study highlights that empowerment gains through mental health apps for an individual living with mental health disorders leads to patient trust in the health care provider. Patient empowerment is found to impact patient compliance, but only through the full mediating effect of patient trust in the health care provider, indicating that patient trust is a critical variable to enhance patient compliance. Overall, our results confirm that health care providers should encourage the use of mental health apps to favor patient empowerment.