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Patient trust and readiness for digital health-enabled precision care after heart transplantation: a real-world survey
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DOI：10.3389/fdgth.2026.1839950.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
BackgroundDigital health may support continuous; personalized follow-up after heart transplantation; however; successful implementation depends on patient trust; digital confidence; and acceptable data-governance arrangements.ObjectiveTo characterize digital access; perceived usefulness; trust; privacy concerns; and implementation readiness among adult heart transplant recipients; and to explore differences across demographic and technology-use subgroups.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study; consecutive adult heart transplant recipients attending routine follow-up at a tertiary center completed a 43-item questionnaire developed through literature-informed item generation; multidisciplinary expert review; and pilot testing in 5 transplant recipients. Responses were summarized descriptively. Exploratory subgroup comparisons used Pearson chi-square or Fisher exact tests; as appropriate. As multiple comparisons were exploratory; p-values were interpreted as hypothesis-generating.ResultsNinety-three recipients participated; 61 (65.6%) were male and 74 (79.6%) were older than 45 years. Smartphone use was common (85/93; 91.4%); whereas wearable use remained limited (18/93; 19.4%). Most respondents agreed that technology could improve health monitoring (69/92; 75.0%); and 69/93 (74.2%) considered digital tools more useful and reliable when incorporating guidance from their treating clinicians. Nevertheless; 29/93 (31.2%) expressed discomfort with device-led monitoring; and 49/92 (53.3%) preferred physician advice over app-based guidance. Concerns about data misuse were reported by 44/93 (47.3%); although 72/93 (77.4%) supported data use for clinical research and 69/93 (74.2%) valued revocable consent. Perceived usefulness differed significantly by sex (males 83.3% vs. females 59.4%; p = 0.023). Medication-related insecurity and preference for physician advice varied across age groups (p = 0.029 and p = 0.030; respectively). Greater daily technology use was associated with less medication-related insecurity and less discomfort with monitoring (p = 0.009 and p = 0.022).ConclusionsHeart transplant recipients demonstrate substantial but conditional readiness for digital health adoption. Successful implementation appears to depend not only on access; but also on clinician integration; task-specific confidence; and transparent; patient-controlled data governance. These findings support a staged; human-centered implementation approach rather than technology substitution for established clinical relationships.
Keywords:
digital health
remote monitoring
precision medicine
privacy
heart transplantation
digital literacy
patient trust
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