{
  "abstract": "Objective: This study aimed to examine the current pattern of patients’ overall trust judgment regarding DeepSeek-enabled hospital intelligent services, analyze its association with service preference, and explore important considerations related to patients’ service mode choices.\n\nMethods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a Chinese public hospital during May–June 2025. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 214 patients who had used the intelligent service. Data were collected via face-to-face questionnaires. Because the principal variables were ordinal and subgroup sizes were imbalanced, nonparametric tests were applied, including Spearman’s rank correlation, the Fisher–Freeman–Halton exact test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test.\n\nResults: Patients showed a baseline level of trust in hospital intelligent services, with 46.7% reporting positive trust attitudes and 13.6% reporting distrust. Spearman rank correlation analysis demonstrated weak positive relationships between higher perceived accuracy of department recommendations ( ρ = −0.140, p < 0.05) and treatment suggestions ( ρ = −0.204, p < 0.01) and more favorable overall trust judgments (lower trust scores represented more favorable judgments), whereas no consistent associations were found for other indicators. The Fisher–Freeman–Halton exact test showed a significant association between overall trust judgment and service preference ( p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.610), although this did not translate into a straightforward preference for more AI-led service modes: only 6.1% of patients preferred pure intelligent services, while 67.8% still preferred traditional human services. Data security protection received the highest importance rating ( M = 3.99, SD = 1.00) and was associated with lower preference for service modes involving greater AI participation. The Kruskal-Wallis test indicated a significant overall difference in data security protection ratings across service preference groups ( χ ² = 42.175, df = 2, p < 0.001). Further Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that AI-led service preference was significantly negatively correlated with the importance attached to data security protection ( ρ = −0.328, p < 0.001).\n\nConclusion: Patients hold basic trust in DeepSeek-based intelligent services, yet trust does not convert into preference for pure AI services. Data-security considerations were associated with lower preference for AI-involved service modes. Strengthening data-security governance, institutional transparency, and service reliability may support the responsible expansion of patient-facing intelligent services.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Management, Xuzhou Medical University",
    "Jiangsu Provincial Key Research Center for Cross-Regional Health Governance",
    "Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University",
    "School of Medical Artificial Intelligence, Xuzhou Medical University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Zongliang Wen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Beibei Fu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yiheng Qin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhuying Gao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Yan Zhu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/28xqre18xhbsz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1855398",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "28xqre18xhbsz",
  "issns": [
    "2296-2565"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1855398/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-04",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/28xqre18xhbsz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:21:48Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1855398",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1855398/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:2296-2565",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "When trust does not translate into service preference: a cross-sectional study of patient responses to DeepSeek-enabled hospital intelligent services in a Chinese public hospital",
  "title_text": "When trust does not translate into service preference: a cross-sectional study of patient responses to DeepSeek-enabled hospital intelligent services in a Chinese public hospital",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T00:21:28Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/28xqre18xhbsz",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Public Health",
  "versions": []
}