Abstract

Smartphone apps present an interactive, tailored, low-cost and culturally adaptive vehicle for health interventions mHealth has thus emerged as an attractive and cost-effective mode for the delivery of health communication and care. The present study synthesizes the scholarly research on app adoption and obesity prevention, which remains scattered across several domains. In particular, we test an SCT-based framework for bridging together research from health, communication and computer science to broaden our understanding of mHealth and lay a path for future exploration of the adoption and diffusion of this rapidly emerging communication platform. Results of an online survey (n =  463) demonstrate that the cognitive and motivational processes set forth by SCT—the self-system of observational learning, self-belief and efficacy to determine behavioral courses of action—contribute to the mHealth adoption process, helping ameliorate traditional digital divides. The utility of mHealth applications and the anticipated enjoyment derived from mHealth application use were more significant predictors of mobile health application than were other cognitive and emotional motivations associated with media adoption and use. Income and education also influence likelihood of adopting mHealth apps.

Key Words: mHealth, Mobile Health, Adoption, Smartphones, Apps, Social Cognitive Theory, Motivation, Self-Efficacy, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Mobile Interventions.

*   Alexandra Merceron  is a Lecturer in Strategic Communication at the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University and a doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include cross-cultural and health communication, including the use of emerging eHealth technology by disadvantaged populations.

** David Atkin, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. His research interests include communication policy as well as uses and effects of new media. He has done grant-supported work on the adoption, use and regulation of new media.

© ^AMCRON Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, April 2019, pp. 1 – 13