{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:08:38Z","timestamp":1760234918619,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,1]],"date-time":"2021-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1625097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Healthcare"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Loneliness or social isolation, recently described as a \u201cbehavioral epidemic,\u201d remains a long-standing public health issue, which has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of technology has been suggested to enhance social connectedness and to decrease the negative health outcomes associated with social isolation. However, till today, no theory-based studies were performed to examine the determinants of technology use. Therefore, the current study aims to test theory-based determinants in explaining the adoption of new technology in a nationally representative sample during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 382). A psychometrically reliable and valid instrument based on the multi-theory model (MTM) of health behavior change was administered electronically using a cross-sectional study design. A total of 47.1% of the respondents reported high levels of social isolation, and 40.6% did not use any new technology. Among technology users (59.4%), the three initiation constructs participatory dialogue (b = 0.054, p &lt; 0.05), behavioral confidence (b = 0.184, p &lt; 0.001), and changes in the physical environment (b= 0.053, p &lt; 0.05) were significant and accounted for 38.3% of the variance in the initiation of new technologies. Concerning sustenance in technology users, all three constructs emotional transformation (b = 0.115, p &lt; 0.001), practice for change (b = 0.086, p &lt; 0.001), and changes in the social environment (b = 0.061, p &lt; 0.001) were significant and accounted for 42.6% of the variance in maintaining the use of new technology. MTM offers a powerful framework to design health promotion interventions encouraging the use of new technologies to foster greater social connectedness amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond it.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare9070838","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,1]],"date-time":"2021-07-01T21:55:52Z","timestamp":1625176552000},"page":"838","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Testing the Multi-Theory Model (MTM) to Predict the Use of New Technology for Social Connectedness in the COVID-19 Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4624-2414","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manoj","family":"Sharma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0722-0191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kavita","family":"Batra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Office of Research, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89102, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jason","family":"Flatt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1013","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2014.302427","article-title":"Loneliness as a public health issue: The impact of loneliness on health care utilization among older adults","volume":"105","author":"Jayawardhana","year":"2015","journal-title":"Am. 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