ABSTRACT
Telemedical consultation services promise solutions in maintaining the areawide supply of healthcare in times of fast growing patient numbers, though their acceptance is low. This study aims at detecting how a computer mediated medical encounter must be designed to win users’ trust in such services for establishing them as serious alternatives to face-to-face consultations. 15 semi-structured scenario-based interviews with older female heart patients were conducted using the Future Care Lab of RWTH Aachen University in Germany as an example. Users identified an intuitively usable interface and the preserving of patient’s privacy as important requirements. Data security played a subordinate role. Besides, integrated ICT must remain unimpaired or even improve the quality of the physician-patient interaction. However, users doubt these highly innovative applications in default of own or indirect user experience. Thus, developers must consider users trust decision-making based on analogies to established, similar appearing ICT of the same domain (e.g. health) if possible. Additionally, initial user experience must be provided to reduce patients’ irrational beliefs and facilitate a critical evaluation.
