Potential Theoretical Foundations. Normalization Process Theory (NPT)

Potential Theoretical Foundations in TeleHealth
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Potential Theoretical Foundations in TeleHealth
The modern society is experiencing increasing endeavors towards inclusivity and health care is one of the areas sought for universal coverage. Chang et al (2015) defined telehealth as the utilization of information, computing and telecommunication technologies as a medium to offer distant medical care constituting health promotions and disease prevention. This ensures that health systems encompass the people living in rural areas and long term patients with minimal contact. The challenge of implementing technological resources into the health system comes in the integration into the standard practice (Morrison and Mair, 2011) which necessitates the theoretical application to ensure integrative intervention of telehealth. This paper looks at potential theoretical foundations that can be used in the implementation of telehealth. The paper covers the implications of the Normalization Process Theory (NPT) Theory of Technology Acceptance, and Theory of Planned Behavior on the usage of telehealth.
Normalization Process Theory (NPT)
Normalization Process Theory (NPT) explains the social establishment of how telehealth can be adopted into the health care and ‘normalized’ as common practice and sustained in the system as May and Finch (2009) summarized it as the implementation, embedding and integration of processes. It is concerned with the process of how new practices are assimilated into existing ones and become considered as part of the routine. The theory emphasizes the dynamics that further or hamper the routine embedding of complex technological interventions in health care (May et al, 2007).
May and Finch (2009) categorized the NPT into four components; coherence, cognitive participation, collective action, and reflexive monitoring. Coherence refers to the continual changing perception and discernment in individuals as they interact with new technologies through evaluative analysis (Morrison, 2014). Cognitive participation furthers the relational work that the involved parties do to integrate a new technology (May et al, 2017). Collective action and reflexive monitoring are concerned with the decision and opinion formulation around the particular technology.
Since its formulation NPT has been applied in various health care practices like service delivery, clinical decision support technologies and chronic disease management (Morrison, 2014). However, different implementations of telehealth using the theory have a different emphasis on the various components it entails (McEvoy et al, 2014). The application of the theory includes considerations f how the technology would change the normal practices, the safety and security of the system as well as extra required skills and/or resources to install the technology (Morrison, 2011).
Several applications of the theory have been implemented in the UK medical interventions with most of them using the theory as a means to provide an organizing framework (McEvoy, et al, 2014). The theory has been used to implement telehealth in the management of chronic diseases such as heart failure and mental illnesses that involve long term care (Morrison and Mair, 2011). This is because of the long sociological and relational aspects that theory addresses through the continued integration of material practices (May and Finch, 2009).
One of the advantages of NTP is the ability to address deep-rooted sociological aspect covering not only they are implemented but also how they are embedded in everyday life (May and Finch, 2009). NTP links the translational gap as it helps identify barriers through the relational focus which helps in focusing on the problematic areas during implementation (Morrison and Mair). The theory, however, does not cover relationships presented by secondary situations showing its inefficiency.
Theory of Technology Acceptance
This is another model that can be used for the implementation of telehealth is the theory of technology acceptance. This theory focuses on how users come to terms with the use of new technologies. According to Van Dyk (2014), the theory of technology acceptance focuses on addressing the ability of users in the healthcare system to accept the new technology and understand the best time to use the technology. Additionally, when developing this theory, it is essential for leaders in the healthcare sector to understand the attitudes and behaviors of users, to help them implement appropriate and relevant approaches that can be used to enhance adoption and the use of new technologies (Van Dyk, 2014). Further, it is essential to understand that the success of theory is determined by behavioral intentions, which are in turn, determined by an individual’s attitudes towards the technology.
The components of this theory include perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and social influence. In terms of perceived ease of use, the theory addresses the degree to which a person believes s/he can use a particular system without using any efforts (Agboola et al., 2014). In this context...