Understanding end-user support for health information technology: a theoretical framework.
BACKGROUND
Support is often considered an important factor for successful implementation and realising the benefits of health information technology (HIT); however, there is a dearth of research on support and theoretical frameworks to characterise it.


OBJECTIVE
To develop and present a comprehensive, holistic, framework for characterising enduser support that can be applied to various settings and types of information systems.


METHODS
Scoping review of the medical informatics and information systems literature.


RESULTS
A theoretical  framework of end-user support is presented. It includes the following facets: support source, location of support, support activities, and perceived characteristics of support and support personnel.


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed framework may be a useful tool for describing and characterising  enduser support for HIT. it may also be used by decision makers and implementation leaders for planning purposes.
Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Canada. aviv.shachak@utoronto.ca
Aviv
A
Shachak
Jan
J
Barnsley
Karen
K
Tu
Alejandro R
AR
Jadad
Louise
L
Lemieux-Charles
D054626:Consumer Health Information; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D014584:User-Computer Interface