Table 2. Perceptions and uses of IT for health-related purposes, summary of findings.

Topic	Perceptions and uses (exemplar quotes in italics)
Current health-related uses of technology	• Receive cell-phone reminder calls for appointments
	• Use of mobile phone to stay in touch with health professionals
	• Some reported dislike for automated appointment reminder calls which can be confusing and use up valuable cell phone minutes.
	“(When you receive an automated call) …you can’t shut it off and you’re stuck with it and it eats up all your (phone minutes) and you don’t know who it is.”
Perceived benefits	• Convenience: information is retrievable, there is less need to write appointment information down, and the asynchronous communication is less intrusive.
	Well you have something solid in front of you. You don’t have to write it down. You can save it and it’s there. I mean you have all your information right there.
	• Organization: reduces worry about losing slips of paper with appointment information, and forgetting to go to appointments
Possible barriers	• Cost: calls and texts cost the recipient money if they do not have an unlimited mobile phone plan
	“(I wouldn’t want cell phone reminders)…not with what it costs me.”
	• Annoyance: too many text messages become annoying instead of helpful
	• Lack of skills: some participants lacked text messaging skills