Digital Health Privacy: Qualitative Analysis Insights

The University of Southampton study reported by Pharmacy Update Online found that people may continue using online health technologies despite privacy concerns because convenience, functionality, and a lack of alternatives can outweigh distrust.

• In 2023, University of Southampton researchers interviewed 22 UK adults, including 8 people with lived experience of a mental health condition and 14 people without that experience.
• In 2023, 12 of the 22 participants reported that they did not trust the internet generally but continued using internet-based technologies and accepting uncomfortable cookie settings.
• In 2023, the researchers found no clear difference in trust levels between participants with and without lived experience of a mental health condition.
• In 2023, participants connected trust in technology with trust in organizations and raised concerns about commercial influence, artificial intelligence misuse, and human roles being replaced.
• Professor Mark Weal of the University of Southampton said responsible systems should provide “trust and genuine user autonomy.”

The University of Southampton study used qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted over eight months in 2023 with 22 UK-based adults to explore attitudes toward internet-based technologies and artificial intelligence in e-health.

The 2023 sample included 8 adults with lived experience of a mental health condition and 14 adults without that experience, according to the study report summarized by Pharmacy Update Online. The researchers expected that serious mental health conditions might be associated with greater mistrust of online technologies, but the reported findings instead emphasized concerns shared across both groups.

The study was published in November 2026 in Behavioral Sciences under the title “I Don’t Trust It, but I Have to Trust It”: Trust vs. Use of Online Technology Across the Mental Health Spectrum in the UK.

Lead author Dr Emma Palmer-Cooper said, “Our results showed this as less of an issue and that more general concerns about trust in digital technologies, common to both participant groups, were more prevalent.”

The interviews surfaced a recurring tension between privacy and practical access. One participant said, “If you don’t accept, you can’t use the majority of online services, ” while another said, “I don’t trust it but as I said before, I have to in a way trust it in order to get to do what I want to do.”

Digital health research teams should treat continued platform use as evidence of a trade-off, not automatic proof of trust. The University of Southampton findings reported in November 2026 show that participants can distrust online services while still using them because the services save time, provide functionality, or appear difficult to replace.

• Analyze trust and behavior separately because the 2023 interviews found that 12 of 22 participants expressed general internet distrust while continuing to use internet-based technologies.
• Compare user segments without overgeneralizing because the 2023 study found no clear trust difference between participants with and without lived experience of a mental health condition.
• Code for resignation and constrained choice because participants described cookies as something they had to accept to access online services, rather than as a fully voluntary consent decision.
• Include organizational trust in the research framework because the 2023 participants linked confidence in technology to confidence in the companies and institutions operating it.
• Test the desired balance between artificial intelligence and human contact because the 2023 interviews included anxiety about misuse of AI and the replacement of human employees.

Professor Mark Weal said the findings create “clear ethical considerations for developers of online technologies and for the prescribers of eHealth interventions.” The statement means research teams should examine whether a recommendation gives people meaningful control over data use, privacy settings, and access to human support.

This article is research-focused and non-diagnostic. The University of Southampton study does not establish clinical conclusions about any individual participant or mental health condition.

The University of Southampton study shows that digital health privacy is not simply a question of whether users trust a platform. The 2023 interviews show that people may accept privacy compromises when online services are convenient, useful, or difficult to replace.

Qualitative analysis helps research teams connect privacy concerns with behavior, organizational trust, consent fatigue, and expectations for human support. Evidano can help teams move from sensitive interview data to structured themes and cross-segment findings while supporting privacy-conscious research workflows.

To analyze digital health privacy interviews and other qualitative datasets, try Evidano for free.