Does Health Information Technology Promote Healthy Behaviors? The Mediating Role of Self-Regulation

Health information technology (health IT) has the potential to facilitate the self-regulation of fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) and physical activity (PA). This study explores whether using health IT for self-regulation mediates the relationship between sociodemographic factors and health behaviors including FVI and PA among U.S. adults. Bayesian mediation analysis was used to analyze a nationally representative sample of the U.S. adults (N = 3285) from Cycle 1 of the 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). The 95% credibility intervals (CI) were calculated for each sociodemographic factor and the mediator using health IT for self-regulation in relation to FVI and PA. About 58% of the participants used at least one type of health IT for self-regulation. Age was negatively associated with using health IT for self-regulation, whereas being a female and having a higher income and education were positively associated with it. Using health IT for self-regulation partially mediated the positive relationships between income, education, and FVI, but it is unrelated to PA. The findings support the efficacy of using health IT to regulate healthier eating. Nevertheless, the digital divide is a critical issue to consider when applying health IT to promote behavior change.