title: Specific health status has an impact on the willingness to use telemonitoring: data from a 2009 health survey in north rhine-westphalia, Germany.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Demographic changes in Germany are expected to cause a rising need for medical care and therapy while capacities are declining. Telemedicine offers the option of minimizing some aspects of these problems, but so far, many telemedicine projects in Germany (including telemonitoring projects) are not applied to the clinical routine. This study was done to assess the influence of health factors on potential willingness to use telemonitoring devices at home.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health status and other health-relevant factors were determined using individual and medical factors (e.g., reported diseases). Principal-component analysis was used to identify groups with a specific response behavior. This study was based on a representative telephone survey conducted in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Willingness to use telemonitoring was high in North Rhine-Westphalia but decreased with age. Men showed a significantly greater willingness to use telemonitoring than did women. Also, there was an effect associated with the subjects' health status (e.g., cardiovascular diseases caused a decrease of 9.7% in the level of acceptance, whereas musculoskeletal disorders caused a decrease of 5.1%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The target groups for telemonitoring consisted mainly of elderly persons and those with certain diseases. This study showed that being diseased lowered the willingness to use telemonitoring. People need to understand better how telemonitoring can help to improve controlling their health status and coping with the disease. It is necessary to reflect on these specific needs if telemonitoring is to become routine in the German healthcare system.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University , Bielefeld, Germany .
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bürmann Genannt Siggemann
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mensing
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Classen
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hornberg
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Terschüren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D013686:Telemetry / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult