title: Consent and widespread access to personal health information for the delivery of care: a large scale telephone survey of consumers' attitudes using vignettes in New Zealand.
abstract: In light of recent health policy, to examine factors which influence the public's willingness to consent to share their health information in a national electronic health record (EHR).
  
  
  
  Data were collected in a national telephone survey in 2008. Respondents were presented with vignettes that described situations in which their health information was shared and asked if they would consent to such sharing. The subset, consisting of the 18 vignettes that covered proving care, was reanalysed in depth using new statistical methods in 2016.
  
  
  
  Adult population of New Zealand accessible by telephone landline.
  
  
  
  4209 adults aged 18+ years in the full data set, 2438 of which are included in the selected subset.
  
  
  
  For each of 18 vignettes, we measured the percentage of respondents who would consent for their information to be shared for 2 groups; for those who did not consider that their records contained sensitive information, and for those who did or refused to say.
  
  
  
  Rates of consent ranged from 89% (95% CI 87% to 92%) for sharing of information with hospital doctors and nurses to 51% (47% to 55%) for government agencies. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to identify factors which had significant impact on consent. The role of the recipient and the level of detail influenced respondents' willingness to consent (p<0.0001 for both factors). Of the individual characteristics, the biggest impact was that respondents whose records contain sensitive information (or who refused to answer) were less willing to consent (p<0.0001).
  
  
  
  A proportion of the population are reluctant to share their health information beyond doctors, nurses and paramedics, particularly when records contain sensitive information. These findings may have adverse implications for healthcare strategies based on widespread sharing of information. Further research is needed to understand and overcome peoples' ambivalence towards sharing their information.
authors.affiliation: School of Management, College of Business, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Dick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Whiddett
authors.affiliation: School of Management, College of Business, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Inga
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Institute of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, School of Public Health & Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waldon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000523:psychology*; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D055991:Health Records, Personal / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D011639:Public Opinion; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D055815:Young Adult