Beyond technology usefulness: Health system reliability, and socio-demographic and professional factors as shapers of technostress in physicians

Pilar Ficapal-Cusí, Joan Torrent-Sellens () and Oriol Yuguero Torres

PLOS Digital Health, 2026, vol. 5, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: Healthcare digitalisation may improve care yet can undermine clinicians’ wellbeing through technostress. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of physicians in Catalonia, Spain (March–April 2024; n = 423) using the Technostress Creators Scale to quantify overall technostress and five techno-stressors (overload, invasion, complexity, insecurity and uncertainty). Hierarchical regression with bootstrapped standard errors assessed incremental contributions of demographics, digital experience and use, and contextual factors. Overall technostress was moderate (2.91 ± 0.59/5); techno-overload (3.37 ± 0.82) and techno-uncertainty (3.29 ± 0.74) were highest, while techno-insecurity was lowest (2.15 ± 0.74). Across models, greater professional experience and the interaction between gender (women), hospital care, and location in non-metropolitan areas were significant predictors. A higher probability was also detected in tasks where technology is more prevalent in healthcare, patients also have access to it and are pressured to use it, and where technical problems are frequent. Finally, moderators related to the digital maturity of professionals and better access to, and usability of digital tools were identified. These findings should be interpreted as exploratory associations, given the non-probabilistic convenience sample and the cross-sectional design, which preclude claims about population representativeness, response rate estimation, or causal inference. Nevertheless, the results suggest that promoting physicians’ digital wellbeing requires attention to sociodemographic, professional, and technological factors associated with higher technostress.Author summary: Digital technologies are now part of everyday healthcare, but their implementation can also create new sources of stress for clinicians. This study examines technostress among physicians in Catalonia, Spain, focusing not only on the usefulness of digital tools, but also on how reliable, accessible and integrated these tools are in clinical practice. Using an online survey of 423 physicians, we found that overall technostress was moderate, with the highest levels related to technology-driven workload and uncertainty caused by continuous digital change. Older physicians, women working in hospital settings, and professionals working outside metropolitan areas showed higher levels of technostress in some dimensions. Technostress was also higher when physicians used more digital tools in patient care, when patients requested digital interaction, and when digital applications presented technical problems. Conversely, previous experience with telemedicine and eHealth, easier-to-use tools, and better access for citizens were associated with lower technostress. These findings suggest that preventing technostress requires more than training individual professionals: healthcare organisations must improve usability, technical reliability, workflow integration and equitable support for different professional groups.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pdig00:0001541

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0001541

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