The effect of technological stress on the usage and acceptance of telemedicine services in rural healthcare providers: a qualitative study

Background: After the COVID-19 outbreak the healthcare systems all around the world found the necessity to update the ways in which health services are provided. The advent of technological progress and subsequential development of telemedicine services, had a great impact on the current evolution of healthcare services. Telemedicine is now becoming the new norm all around the world, from urban to rural areas, and for all the different healthcare fields and health providers. Scientific research is now focusing mostly on the quality of the services delivered, the creation of new technologies and which are the psychosocial factors that influence the adoption of telemedicine services for patients and providers. In this landscape composed of so many different research topics, few have investigated the role of rural areas providers on the adoption of telemedicine services inside their communities and how the technostress experienced by professionals might moderate the adoption of such services. Method: To evaluate the role of healthcare professionals in rural areas a qualitative structured interview will be conducted among the health providers (i.e. general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists) of two municipalities in the mountainous area of the Dolomites in the north of Italy. The data collection will begin in January 2024 and be completed approximately by the end of March 2024. The structured interview will investigate the following areas: current knowledge of telemedicine services, current modalities and use of telemedicine services, willingness to improve the service in daily professional activities, technology stress experienced during the use of telemedicine technologies, attitudes towards technological devices, expected acceptance of patients of these new services. Results: From the analysis of the data, we expect to find that providers who have more knowledge and are more experienced in the use of telemedicine might feel a lower technostress related to the use of these services and are more keen to propose the service and expect their patients to use it. On the contrary, we expect that professionals with low knowledge and experience about telemedicine will feel a higher technological stress related to the usage of the service and be less keen to suggest it to their patients. Conclusion: From the results obtained from the study it will be possible to expand the present knowledge on the attitudes towards telemedicine of different rural areas health professionals and it will be possible to find the physical and mental constraints that create friction in the adoption of telemedicine in these communities.