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Consumer participation in mental health service planning and delivery is now authorised through Australian government policy. While strategies have been implemented to foster opportunities for participation, they have rarely been evaluated for their effectiveness. Furthermore, the inadequacy of these strategies to support policy implementation has been criticised in the literature and identified as a major obstacle to genuine and effective consumer participation in mental health care. This paper argues that there is an urgent need for affirmative action in order to overcome the current and historical discrimination that prevents consumers from active participation.

The increasing financial burden and complexity of health-care services, exacerbated by factors such as an ageing population and the rise of chronic conditions, necessitate comprehensive and integrated care approaches. While co-created service design has proven valuable in transforming some service industries, its application to the health-care industry is not well understood. This study aims to examine how health consumers are involved in health-care service co-creation.

The study searched 11 electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2019. Additionally, hand searches of reference lists from included studies, Google^© citation searches and searches for grey literature were conducted. The Whittemore and Knafl integrative framework guided the systematic review, and Callahan’s 6 Ws framework was used to extract data from the included articles, facilitating comparisons.

The authors identified 21 articles, mainly from the UK, North America and Australia. Despite the need for more research, findings reveal limited and geographically narrow empirical studies with restricted theory and method applications. From these findings, the authors constructed a conceptual model to enhance nuanced understanding.

This study offers four contributions. First, it introduces the Health Service Design Transformation Model for Comprehensive Consumer Co-Creation, illustrating health consumers’ multifaceted roles in shaping services. Second, consumer vulnerabilities in co-creating services are identified, linked to diverse consumer groups, power dynamics and decision complexity. Third, this study suggests broadening participant inclusion may enhance consumer-centricity, inclusivity and innovation in service design. Finally, the research agenda explores consumer experiences, organizational dynamics, value outcomes and co-creation theory for health-care service advancement.

The purpose of this review is to provide a conceptual framework of consumer engagement behavior in the value co-creation process of healthcare services, and further understand the current knowledge maps and advances.

Specifically, the scoping review methodology is used to synthesize the extant findings. The authors first develop the inclusion/exclusion criteria to evaluate the source material for the review; then, the authors further conduct the literature refinement to select the final data sample. As such, the authors extract and analyze the information derived from these articles.

The authors found most related studies focus on exploring patients' engagement behavior in the value co-creation process, especially those with chronic disease; the findings also reveal that consumers are most likely to engage in the value co-creation process of healthcare services by seeking or sharing health information; also, consumers engagement behavior is mainly driven by individual, interactive, and technological factors; moreover, consumer engagement in the value co-creation of healthcare services are more likely to achieve positive health and behavioral outcomes.

The role of consumers has gradually shifted from that of passive recipients to that of active participants in the healthcare value co-creation process. Consumer engagement behavior is the key premise for the realization of healthcare value co-creation, and it has received increasing attention both academically and practically. By unearthing the conceptual framework of consumer engagement behavior in the value co-creation process of healthcare services, this study provides a systematic understanding and serves as a useful resource for future research and practice.

Hedonic social applications have been increasingly popular among health information consumers. However, it remains unclear what motivates consumers to adopt health information in hedonic applications when they have alternative choices of more formal health information sources. Building on the self-determination theory and the affordances lens, this study aims to investigate how different affordances on hedonic social applications affect consumers' basic psychological needs and further influence their intention to adopt health information on such applications.

As TikTok demonstrated great potential in disseminating health information, we developed a model that we analyze using the PLS-SEM technique with data collected from a valid research sample of 384 respondents with health information seeking or encountering experience in TikTok.

The results suggested that health information adoption in hedonic social applications is significantly predicted by the satisfaction of consumers' basic psychological needs, namely autonomy, relatedness and competence. Moreover, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs is positively affected by affordances provided by the hedonic social applications. The hedonic affordances positively influence autonomy satisfaction, while the connective affordances positively affect relatedness satisfaction, and the utilitarian affordances positively support competence satisfaction.

The study indicates that hedonic social applications such as TikTok could be an important channel for consumers to access and adopt health information. The study contributes to the literature by proposing a theoretical model that explains consumers' health information adoption and yields practical implications for designers and service providers of hedonic social applications.

Consumers have increased access to digital health tools such as social media, websites and marketer-controlled platforms for information sharing. Telemedicine (TM) represents an emerging omni-channel touchpoint for consumers to exchange information and inform health decision-making at a time and place of their choosing. While TM offers great potential, consumer adoption has been slower than expected. This paper aims to investigate attitudinal factors that influence adoption and usage of TM within consumers’ omni-channel decision-making environment.

Surveys from 869 patients were analyzed using multiple linear regression to examine the relationships between health decision-making, TM access benefits and omni-channel touchpoints (social media, website and internal health digital channels usage) on TM usage likelihood.

Attitudinal constructs related to TM’s benefits including access and health decision-making have the strongest impact on future TM usage. The study also empirically demonstrates a link between consumers’ omni-channel information seeking and TM usage.

Increasing consumers’ involvement across omni-channel touchpoints has an additive effect on perceived benefits for engaging consumers in using digital offerings like TM. Future research is needed that examines the interrelationships on consumers’ health decision-making across generational cohorts and the post-adoption effects of digital service offerings.

Omni-channel touchpoints such as TM provide new opportunities to enhance shared decision-making. However, marketers need to adopt strategies that accommodate consumers’ evolving omni-channel preferences for access and information exchange to synergize digital service offerings with interpersonal touchpoints.

This study integrates shared decision-making, technology acceptance and omni-channel marketing literature to explore TM acceptance and usage within the context of consumers’ omni-channel decision process.

As consumer health-care spending increases, so does the need for effective communication of preventive health-care information (PHCI) with the potential to prompt lifestyle changes. Through proactive, effective dissemination of PHCI, health-care service providers can minimize and prevent costly health conditions while improving the efficiency of a traditionally reactive health-care system. Taking into account the considerable time consumers spend on social media and networks (SM&N) and hefty health-care spending among Baby Boomer and Generation X consumers, this study aims to address critical questions concerning the importance of SM&N for gathering PHCI, SM&N preferences for gathering PHCI and the types of behavioral changes consumers have pursued in response to PHCI.

Designed as a generational cohort analysis, this study is based on the responses of 936 Baby Boomer and Generation X respondents to a questionnaire containing 200 items related to PHCI and social/digital media as a vehicle for acquiring both general and preventive health information. Crosstab analysis was used to examine differences in the characteristics of the generational cohorts. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess differences in the degree of importance Baby Boomer and Generation X health consumers assign to 28 SM&N sites as delivery systems of PHCI. The researchers used ANOVA to determine generational differences in behavioral changes associated with a healthier lifestyle as a result of exposure to PHCI.

There are significant differences in the characteristics of Baby Boomer and Generation X cohorts. Generation X health-care consumers assign greater importance to SM&N sites as PHCI delivery systems. Additionally, Generation X health-care consumers report greater behavioral change resulting from exposure to PHCI.

New information is provided concerning health-care consumer perceptions of SM&N as a source of PHCI and the behavioral changes consumers pursue as a result of PHCI exposure.

This paper measures the effectiveness of interactive health-care marketing activities, explaining the role of SM&N as an effective source of PHCI and providing marketers with insights useful for PHCI content management and dissemination.

Effective dissemination of PHCI via SM&N may help prevent illness among Baby Boomer and Generation X consumers and, accordingly, improve quality of life while easing the increasing pressure on the US health-care system.

Study results evidence the value of SM&N sites to health service providers as they endeavor to improve and extend consumer lives through dissemination of PHCI. Ideas and insights within this paper will inform and enhance social media marketing management practices within pharmaceutical and health-care organizations.

This study aims to examine the relationships between consumer self‐confidence in health information search and health‐related outcomes (i.e. knowledge about cancer prevention, healthcare behavior, and use of the web as a primary source for health information). The associations between self‐confidence in health information search and its predictors (i.e. health literacy and trust in health information sources) are explored as well.

This study used the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey data. Stepwise linear regression analyses, a logistic regression analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

The results from this study revealed that consumer self‐confidence in health information search appears to be linked with perceptions of health literacy and trust in information sources, particularly, trust in health professionals (e.g. doctors, healthcare professionals, government health agencies, family and friends, the internet), but not in information‐focused media (newspapers or magazines). Furthermore, as expected, consumer self‐confidence in health information search determines two health‐related outcomes, which are knowledge about cancer prevention and healthcare behavior.

The results of this study provide researchers with a better understanding about the key factors guiding consumers to have informed healthcare and enabling public health agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of their policies.

Although the health information seeking behavior of consumers through the internet has received great attention, limited attempt has been made to integrate both the health information seeking behavior and the usage behavior in a mobile online context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence consumer mobile health information seeking (MHIS) and usage behavior based on information quality, perceived value, personal health value, and trust.

A survey was conducted to collect data. A two-step approach of structure equation modeling based was used to test the measurement model and hypothesis model.

Information quality, perceived value, and trust were found to have positive effects on both the intention to seek and to use health information, and that the intention to seek affects the intention to use. Among the three components of perceived value, the utilitarian and epistemic values were found to have significant effects on intention to seek. In addition, the current health status of health consumers moderates the relationships between MHIS and usage intention and their determinants.

Studies have primarily focussed on online health information seeking behavior, whereas a few of these studies have examined the seeking behavior intention and the usage behavior intention in a general model. The results indicate that health information usage behavior intention is closely related to the seeking behavior intention in the mobile context, which enriches the research on the relationship between information seeking and its outcomes. Furthermore, this study highlights the impact of information quality, perceived value, and trust on the intention to seek, and the impacts of information quality and trust on the intention to use, which have been overlooked in previous studies on MHIS.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims are related to perceived healthiness and willingness to buy functional food (i.e. functional yogurt) compared to conventional and organic (bio) food.

A survey of 295 consumers was conducted in Lithuania. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Research findings indicate that health conscious consumers tend to discount messages about the health value of functional food and show preferences for organic food. In contrast, skepticism toward health claims has a higher negative homogenous impact on the perceived healthiness of functional, organic and conventional products compared to health consciousness. On the other hand, skepticism toward health claims does not directly reduce consumers’ willingness to buy functional, organic and conventional products.

Testing other settings, product categories, additional constructs and understanding underlying processes using an experimental design may help to gain more insights into how health conscious and skeptical consumers make food choices.

An examination of health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims can provide at least a partial explanation as to why many functional food products fail to gain consumer confidence.

Based on the reactance theory, the study sheds some light on the understanding of how different psychosocial factors are related to consumer attitudes toward functional, organic and conventional food.

This paper aims to explore factors impacting wearable fitness tracking (WFT) device continued usage intention from perspectives of technology attributes (autonomy benefits), health attributes (self-health management benefits, diet-control benefits and health self-efficacy), and consumer attributes (age, gender, technological innovativeness, symbolic benefits, social benefits and hedonic benefits).

The study integrates constructs from the technology acceptance theories and the health promotion model to develop the research model and hypothesis. The empirical analysis was conducted using data from 217 respondents from India. Logistic regression was used to identify factors that discriminate between groups with low and high continued usage intentions.

Results indicate higher continued usage intention for WFT devices is driven by perceived benefits-health, autonomy, social and hedonic, and individual characteristics-technological innovativeness and perceived health self-efficacy. Further, perceived symbolic benefits, diet control benefits, age, and gender does not discriminate between the groups with low and high continued usage intentions.

The results may be limited to the context of the sample and the factors considered. The study suggests future research areas.

The paper offers insights for marketers, governments, insurance firms, and related healthcare services on promoting higher usage of WFT devices to yield dual benefits of preventive healthcare and higher profitability.

The study extends existing research by examining factors across consumer, health, and technological domains in a single framework and adds to the limited research in the context of usage of WFT devices in developing countries.