Understanding Task-Performance Chain Feed-Forward and Feedback Relationships in E-health

The associations between the use of effective technology and user performance, and the effect of user performance on technology use and task-technology fit (TTF), requires further research (Furneauz, 2012). To address this call for future research, we examined the feed-forward from use and TTF to performance and the feedback from performance to use and TTF by using longitudinal data (n = 156) collected from participants using two custom-built e-health systems that we designed to provide education to develop self-management practices for study participants with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. We captured participants’ use of the two systems, their perceptions of TTF, and their health performance through biomedical outcomes every three months over a 12month period. Our findings show significant and different feed-forward and feedback relationships. In general, our results also show that system use and a negative TTF-use interaction significantly affected performance through feed-forward, while participant performance significantly affected use and negatively affects TTF through feedback. We discuss the implications for task-performance chain (TPC) research and developing and using e-health systems in chronic care.