The Relationship Between Acceptance Intention Toward a Smartphone Healthcare Application and Health-Promoting Behaviors Among Nursing Students

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between acceptance intention toward a smartphone healthcare application and health-promoting behaviors among nursing students in order to propose a method to encourage nursing students' personal health management. Data were collected from June to July 2015 in two cities located in South Korea, targeting 450 nursing students. There was a weak positive relationship between acceptance intention toward a smartphone healthcare application and health-promoting behaviors (r = 0.281, P < .001). There were differences in health-promoting behaviors according to the level of acceptance intention toward a smartphone healthcare application: health-promoting behavior scores for the upper 50% of participants with higher intention scores (high-score group) were statistically higher than those for the lower 50% of participants (low-score group) (t = 4.247, P < .001). In the logistic regression, the high-score group had a greater likelihood of performing health-promoting behaviors (odds ratio, 2.260; P < .001, 95% confidence interval, 1.539-3.321). Health-promoting behaviors tended to increase among nursing students when the acceptance intention toward a smartphone healthcare application was high. To increase nursing students' intention to accept a smartphone healthcare application, it is necessary to develop applications featuring diverse, interesting health-related content suitable for their needs, so that they want to use these applications to promote health.