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E-health in Turkey: an analysis of consumer activities

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Abstract

This study investigates determinants of online health-related activities of Turkish individuals. By exploiting a data set from a household survey of Turkey, probit models are estimated for quantification of factors influencing participation of individuals in electronic health (e-health). Findings reveal that Turkish females are more likely to employ online tools for health-related purposes. Education level, household income and internet usage frequency have positive relationships with online information search and use of online scheduling for doctor appointments. Age has a non-linear relationship with e-health activities. While relatively younger and older individuals are less likely to engage in online health activities, middle-aged individuals are more likely to participate. While use of information technologies in health-related issues have potential to increase health literacy of the population; this study reveals that there are systematic differences in sub-samples in employment of e-health tools, which should be addressed by policy makers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, TED University, Ankara, Turkey

    Tekin Kose & Cansu Oymak

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  1. Tekin Kose
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  2. Cansu Oymak
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Correspondence to Tekin Kose.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Description of variables
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Table 5 Descriptive statistics
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Table 6 Frequency distributions for scheduling doctor appointment
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Kose, T., Oymak, C. E-health in Turkey: an analysis of consumer activities. Health Technol. 9, 113–121 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-018-0256-0

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