Giving voice to providers and users of e-health services: The case of pharmacies

Pharmacies are increasingly delivering eHealth services, yet little is known about what drives their adoption in this setting. This study shifts attention from technology to pharmacist–patient interactions, examining perceptions of eHealth among providers and users. Using structured surveys in Northern Italy, we collected data from 10 pharmacists and 92 clients on four dimensions—eHealth knowledge, resource availability, service perception, and trust—rated on 7-point Likert scales. Descriptive statistics were complemented by a Bayesian analysis with non-informative priors to estimate posterior probabilities of “success” (scores ≥5) and compare groups. Findings indicate strong mutual trust in pharmacy-based eHealth. Clients consistently evaluated pharmacists’ skills, time management, and spatial adequacy more favorably (means >5.5) than pharmacists’ self-assessments; pharmacists reported only moderate confidence in time and resources (mean 4.7), suggesting operational bottlenecks rather than acceptance barriers. Results imply that users perceive higher service quality than providers expect, and that resource adequacy may be pivotal for scaling. Limitations include the small, convenience sample and single-country context. To our knowledge, this is the first study jointly analyzing provider and user perspectives on pharmacy-delivered eHealth.