title: A study on Singaporean women's acceptance of using mobile phones to seek health information.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper is an exploratory study that investigates Singaporean women's acceptance of using mobile phones to seek health information.
  
  
  METHODS
  A mobile web containing health topics was developed to track Singaporean women's actual use of their mobile phones to seek health information. A survey questionnaire measured variables hypothesized to predict Behavioural Intention. The survey responses were then matched to the data collected on actual use. Correlation analysis and hierarchical regression were used to analyze the data collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings revealed that Perceived Usefulness and Self-efficacy positively predicted the intention to use mobile phones to seek health information. The study also confirmed the presence of an intention-behaviour gap among participants. The conversion of intention to actual behaviour hinges on technical concerns and design factors. Prior experiences with health information seeking reinforced women's evaluations of the usefulness of the mobile web application and helped them to feel more self-efficacious about using their mobile phones to seek health information. Using mobile phones to seek health information was found to be complementary to online health information seeking and can be regarded as an alternative source to the internet for seeking health information.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study contributes to the existing literature by applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of mobile health information seeking, for which there has been a lack of studies, and demonstrated that the inclusion of additional variables can enhance TAM's predictive power. The empirical presence of an intention-behaviour gap calls for future research to investigate the reasons behind the gap. Finally, the findings from this study can serve as input to promote women's use of mobile phones for better self-management of health.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Communication and New Media Programme, 11 Law Link, Block AS6, Room 03-04, Singapore 117589. sherwin lim@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sherwin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Lishan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Ching Chiuan
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Leanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Hock Chuan
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Bee Choo
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.forename: Henry Been Lirn
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Duh
authors.forename: Mahesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Choolani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012846:Singapore; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult