Exploring A Role For Electronic Personal Health Record Services As Sexual Health Discussion Tools: A Mixed-Methods Study Among Young Black Adults

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Date

2016

Department

Public Health and Policy

Program

Doctor of Public Health

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This item is made available by Morgan State University for personal, educational, and research purposes in accordance with Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Other uses may require permission from the copyright owner.

Abstract

Young Black adults continue to share a largely disproportionate burden of STD rates. The eSHINE Study is a two-phase sequential mixed-methods study among students at a historically Black university exploring perceptions on facilitating STD risk conversations with partners using electronic personal health records (PHRs). A grounded theory study on 35 students explored perceptions on incorporating electronic personal health records (PHRs) into contextualized risk-discussion practices. An online survey instrument was developed to measure the distribution of and relationships between emergent themes and codes in a cross-sectional study on 354 students. PHRs were perceived to impact three aspects of risk discussions: (1) awareness and valuation, (2) ability, and (3) assurance. Approximately 62.8% of survey respondents reported no risk discussion practices and 46.5% with inconsistent risk discussion practices believed PHR accessibility personally enables healthy risk communication practices with partners. Intentional beliefs for receiving electronic STD results (OR=14.7; p<0.001), beliefs that PHRs improve self-efficacy for facilitating initial and check-in discussions with partners (OR=2.33; 95% CI = 1.05, 5.14 and OR=4.00; 95% CI = 1.61, 9.94), and device memory space concerns (OR=0.41 95% CI = 0.21, 0.79) were significant predictors of perceived adoption of PHRs in discussion practices. Findings suggest that young Black adults perceive PHRs as useful discussion tools and consider healthcare providers as a primary gateway for accessing comprehensive patient portal services. PHR awareness and access must be addressed in order to further explore its effectiveness in improving partner communication and disease prevention.