Physical Activity Support Predicts Safety-Net Patients’ Digital Health-Care Engagement: Implications for Patient Care Delivery

Purpose: Assess relationship among health services received and patients’ digital health-care engagement. Design: Quantitative cross-sectional survey study. Setting: Community health centers in Washington state and DC. Sample: N = 164 adult safety-net patients. Intervention: Not applicable Measures: Outcomes were knowledge and use of health apps. Predictors were health service access (access to specialists and health information); health service delivery (healthy eating and physical activity counsel); health service satisfaction; and perceived service value. Analysis: Descriptive and multivariate regression analyses. Odds ratios (OR) reported for 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Response rate was 35%. Of all, 71% were knowledgeable of smartphone use for wellness and 48% used health apps. Physical activity (PA) counseling predicted knowledge and health apps use. Respondents receiving PA counseling were 2.61 times more likely to be knowledgeable about using smartphones for health promotion (OR = 2.61; P = .047; 95% CI: 1.01-6.73). Respondents receiving PA counseling were 2.89 times more likely to use health apps (OR = 2.89; P = .022; 95% CI: 1.17-7.17). Health information access predicted health apps use; respondents with easy access to general health information were 0.29 times as likely to use health apps (OR = 0.29; P = .043; 95% CI: 0.09-0.96). Conclusion: Targeted preventive care support encourages digital health-care engagement. mHealth may supplement health-care needs outside clinics.