Margaret Cullen, Andre P. Calitz, Sasha Boucher, Prashna Buddan

Abstract

Telemedicine plays an important role in patient-centred healthcare in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and in the development of treatment plans. It includes both provider-to-provider and provider-to-patient communication, which can be synchronous (telephone and video) or asynchronous (messaging, electronic consultations). The COVID-19 pandemic sparked interest and awareness of telemedicine, however there is a need to explore the adoption of telemedicine in the context of South Africa. The aim of this study was to examine the adoption of telemedicine by South African healthcare practitioners using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. A positivistic approach using quantitative methods of analysis was adopted. The target population was registered healthcare practitioners practicing in South Africa. Ninety-six healthcare practitioners participated and the study established that the independent factors of Performance Expectancy, Facilitating Conditions, Social Media Technology and Attitude all have a significant positive relationship with the dependent factor Behavioural Intention to adopt telemedicine. Finally, regarding Gender and Behavioural Intention, the results show a statistical and a practical significant difference that a higher number of males rated the Behavioural Intention more positively than females. The demographic variable Gender was found to have a significant influence on the dependent factor, Behavioural Intention. The theoretical contribution of the study is the extension of the UTAUT model for telemedicine adoption.