The digital physician illusion: individual innovativeness, unlike artificial intelligence attitudes, drives rational drug use through health literacy.

BACKGROUND

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into healthcare has transformed how individuals access medical information. However, the impact of artificial intelligence attitudes and individual innovativeness on clinically disciplined behaviors, such as rational drug use, and the mediating role of health literacy remains underexplored.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to empirically investigate the structural relationships between artificial intelligence attitude, individual innovativeness, health literacy, and rational drug use within the digital health ecosystem of Northern Cyprus.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from 445 adults. The proposed relationships, integrating the Technology Acceptance Model and the Health Belief Model, were tested using Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) via IBM SPSS AMOS. A 5,000-resample bootstrapping procedure was utilized for mediation analysis.

RESULTS

The structural model demonstrated an acceptable fit to the data (χ 2/df = 2.45, CFI = 0.935, TLI = 0.921, RMSEA = 0.062, SRMR = 0.058). The structural model revealed that individual innovativeness has a significant and positive impact on both health literacy and rational drug use. While a favorable attitude toward artificial intelligence significantly improves health literacy, it does not directly translate into rational drug use. Furthermore, the mediation analysis demonstrated that health literacy significantly mediates the relationship between individual innovativeness and rational drug use; however, no such mediating effect was observed between artificial intelligence attitude and rational drug use.

CONCLUSION

Although positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence enhance health literacy by improving access to information, this cognitive advantage does not inherently foster the clinical discipline required for rational drug use. The findings highlight the "Digital Physician Illusion," emphasizing that algorithmic guidance cannot replace the indispensable oversight of healthcare professionals.