The Impact of New Technologies on Individuals’ Health Perceptions in the European Union

Abstract

The healthcare systems of European countries currently face challenges regarding the sustainability of healthcare provision. The growing sophistication of new technologies is transforming the accessibility and management of health services and information, while also challenging society’s ability to offer fair access to health services for all people. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze some of the determinants of the self-perceived health status across the EU28 area and to determine how the digitalization of health is impacting the self-rated health of the European populations, given the fact that a healthier population is one of the 17 goals of sustainable development on the 2030 Agenda. The research method used is panel-data regression using secondary data from international databases. The results indicate that there is a direct relationship between the way people are assessing personal health, the ability to use the Internet for seeking health-related information, and the use of various apps to purchase health-related items online. Our findings are useful for academics, industry specialists, and public authorities in designing sustainable health products and policies by focusing on the development of suitable mHealth programs for generating more patient-centered services where the idea of self-care is encouraged.

An innovative big data framework for exploring the impact on decision-making in the European Mediterranean healthcare sector

“…With the integration of healthcare and biomedical data flow in their systems, governments can possibly use big data to fulfill and improve their public health service and administrative role (Zillner and Neururer, 2016; Brătucu et al. , 2020).…”

“…Second, European governments should support the healthcare sector by investing in big data management to develop innovation and to manage the appearance of new viruses and epidemics (Brătucu et al. , 2020).…”

Sustainable Health and Wellbeing in the European Union

“…Innovative development, which will enable improvement of quality and effectiveness of health care services, has a significant impact on sustainability of health systems ( 10 – 12 ). Brӑtucu et al ( 13 ) link innovative development with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and with Agenda 2030 in their study. As these authors ( 13 ) suggest, there exists a direct relationship between a way of how people evaluate their personal health and an ability to browse Internet in order to search for information about health.…”

“…Brӑtucu et al ( 13 ) link innovative development with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and with Agenda 2030 in their study. As these authors ( 13 ) suggest, there exists a direct relationship between a way of how people evaluate their personal health and an ability to browse Internet in order to search for information about health. Authors appeal to industrial specialists, academics, and public authorities in creating sustainable health systems and policies that would enable a development of adequate mobile health care programs and take better care of one's health.…”

“…Consequently, increasing sophistication of new technologies changes availability and management of health services and information. Additionally, it will limit an ability of a company to offer equitable access to health services for all ( 13 – 15 ). In recent years, issue of sustainable health has been researched in relation to efficiency of health systems [e.g., ( 16 , 17 )] and also in relation to quality of life ( 18 , 19 ).…”