Attitudes Toward Health Care Virtual Communities of Practice: Survey Among Health Care Workers

Abstract

BackgroundVirtual communities of practice (VCoPs) have been shown to be an effective means for knowledge and research uptake, but little is known about why health care workers choose to use them. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a theoretical model of persuasion that distinguishes between different routes of information processing that influence attitude formation and change. To date, no research has investigated the antecedents to these processing routes for VCoPs within a health care setting. In understanding these determinants, VCoPs can be appropriately designed to increase their chances of use and value among health care professionals.ObjectiveOur aim is to explore how motivation and ability affect attitudes toward using VCoPs for those working in health care.MethodsData were collected from 86 health care workers using an online survey at two Canadian health care conferences. Participants were shown a mock VCoP and asked about their perceptions of the online platform and related technologies. The survey instrument was developed based on previously validated scales to measure participants’ ability and motivation toward using a VCoP. Attitudes were assessed both at the beginning and end of the study; intention to use the platform was assessed at the end.ResultsAbility (expertise with CoPs and VCoPs) was found to directly affect intention to use the system (P<.001 and P=.009, respectively) as was motivation (P<.001). Argument quality had the greatest effect on formed attitudes toward VCoPs, regardless of the user’s level of experience (lower expertise: P=.04; higher expertise: P=.003). Those with higher levels of CoPs expertise were also influenced by peripheral cues of source credibility (P=.005 for attitude formation and intention to use the system) and connectedness (P=.04 for attitude formation; P=.008 for intention to use the system), whereas those with lower levels of CoP expertise were not (P>.05). A significant correlation between formed attitude and intention to use the VCoPs system was found for those with higher levels of expertise (P<.001).ConclusionsThis research found that both user ability and motivation play an important and positive role in the attitude toward and adoption of health care VCoPs. Unlike previous ELM research, evidence-based arguments were found to be an effective messaging tactic for improving attitudes toward VCoPs for health care professionals with both high and low levels of expertise. Understanding these factors that influence the attitudes of VCoPs can provide insight into how to best design and position such systems to encourage their effective use among health care professionals.

Factors influencing fake news rebuttal acceptance during the COVID-19 pandemic and the moderating effect of cognitive ability

“…Our results show that the change in the increase in rebuttal acceptance by argument quality was not as pronounced for individuals with high cognitive abilities as for individuals with low cognitive abilities; that is, providing strong argument plays an important role in increasing rebuttal acceptance by individuals with low cognitive abilities. This interesting and surprising result is similar to that of Yada and Head (2019) ; in the same health-related research, attitude formation of those with low levels of user expertise was most influenced by central rather than peripheral routes of persuasion, although this conflicts with extant ELM research in non-healthcare or public health contexts. Our results confirm that, for those with lower levels of cognitive abilities, strong arguments are indeed an effective messaging tactic to improve the acceptance of fake news rebuttals, especially in the public health field ( Yada & Head, 2019 ); While the strong-argument condition may have provided no new information for individuals with high cognitive abilities ( Rosen, 2000 ).…”

“…This interesting and surprising result is similar to that of Yada and Head (2019) ; in the same health-related research, attitude formation of those with low levels of user expertise was most influenced by central rather than peripheral routes of persuasion, although this conflicts with extant ELM research in non-healthcare or public health contexts. Our results confirm that, for those with lower levels of cognitive abilities, strong arguments are indeed an effective messaging tactic to improve the acceptance of fake news rebuttals, especially in the public health field ( Yada & Head, 2019 ); While the strong-argument condition may have provided no new information for individuals with high cognitive abilities ( Rosen, 2000 ). We believe that individuals with high cognitive abilities have low demand for argument quality because of two reasons.…”

Development of a COVID-19 virtual community of practice in New South Wales: A qualitative study

“…In keeping with previous research, members concurred that timely access to relevant and useful, evidence-based, up-to-date information was a key driver for joining the VCoP. 15,16 Also, in congruence with the literature, members expressed a sense of togetherness and support in delivering outcomes for the community. 17 The virtual nature of the CoP (both synchronous and asynchronous) as a key supporting tool enabling knowledge sharing across communities has been previously reported.…”

Attitudes and Expectations of Clinical Research Participants Toward Digital Health and Mobile Dietary Assessment Tools: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

“…Recently, patients reported the frequent use of health technologies, including websites (while decreasing), mobile apps, electronic medical records, with a noticeable trend for wearable and smart devices as well as social media ( 3 ). Intention to use such technologies has been assessed in samples of patients ( 6 – 8 ), students ( 9 ), health workers ( 10 ) and in multiple groups at the same time ( 11 – 13 ) to identify demographic or socio-economic determinants of the successful implementation of health technologies. However, these determinants are not usually evaluated in groups of clinical study participants specifically, and it is not known whether the recent trends associated with the use of health technologies are consistent with expectations from research participants in clinical settings.…”