Older adults' psychological and health characteristics influence their use and timing of online health information searches

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Information Searches

scholarly journals Lifestyle Segmentation to Explain the Online Health Information–Seeking Behavior of Older Adults: Representative Telephone Survey

10.2196/15099 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. e15099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winja Weber ◽  
Anne Reinhardt ◽  
Constanze Rossmann
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Information Seeking Behavior ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Sociodemographic Variables ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Health Related

Background As a result of demographic changes, the number of people aged 60 years and older has been increasing steadily. Therefore, older adults have become more important as a target group for health communication efforts. Various studies show that online health information sources have gained importance among younger adults, but we know little about the health-related internet use of senior citizens in general and in particular about the variables explaining their online health-related information–seeking behavior. Media use studies indicate that in addition to sociodemographic variables, lifestyle factors might play a role in this context. Objective The aim of this study was to examine older people’s health-related internet use. Our study focused on the explanatory potential of lifestyle types over and above sociodemographic variables to predict older adults’ internet use for health information. Methods A telephone survey was conducted with a random sample of German adults aged 60 years and older (n=701) that was quota-allocated by gender, age, educational status, and degree of urbanity of their place of residence. Results The results revealed that participants used the internet infrequently (mean 1.82 [SD 1.07]), and medical personnel (mean 2.89 [SD 1.11]), family and friends (mean 2.86 [SD 1.21]), and health brochures (mean 2.85 [SD 1.21]) were their main sources of health information. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on values, interests, and leisure time activities revealed three different lifestyle types for adults aged over 60 years: the Sociable Adventurer, the Average Family Person, and the Uninterested Inactive. After adding these types as second-step predictors in a hierarchical regression model with sociodemographic variables (step 1), the explained variance increased significantly (R2=.02, P=.001), indicating that the Average Family Person and the Sociable Adventurer use the internet more often for health information than the Uninterested Inactive, over and above their sociodemographic attributes. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the internet still plays only a minor role in the health information–seeking behavior of older German adults. Nevertheless, there are subgroups including younger, more active, down-to-earth and family-oriented males that may be reached with online health information. Our findings suggest that lifestyle types should be taken into account when predicting health-related internet use behavior.

scholarly journals Lifestyle Segmentation to Explain the Online Health Information–Seeking Behavior of Older Adults: Representative Telephone Survey (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winja Weber ◽  
Anne Reinhardt ◽  
Constanze Rossmann
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Information Seeking Behavior ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Sociodemographic Variables ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Health Related

BACKGROUND As a result of demographic changes, the number of people aged 60 years and older has been increasing steadily. Therefore, older adults have become more important as a target group for health communication efforts. Various studies show that online health information sources have gained importance among younger adults, but we know little about the health-related internet use of senior citizens in general and in particular about the variables explaining their online health-related information–seeking behavior. Media use studies indicate that in addition to sociodemographic variables, lifestyle factors might play a role in this context. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine older people’s health-related internet use. Our study focused on the explanatory potential of lifestyle types over and above sociodemographic variables to predict older adults’ internet use for health information. METHODS A telephone survey was conducted with a random sample of German adults aged 60 years and older (n=701) that was quota-allocated by gender, age, educational status, and degree of urbanity of their place of residence. RESULTS The results revealed that participants used the internet infrequently (mean 1.82 [SD 1.07]), and medical personnel (mean 2.89 [SD 1.11]), family and friends (mean 2.86 [SD 1.21]), and health brochures (mean 2.85 [SD 1.21]) were their main sources of health information. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on values, interests, and leisure time activities revealed three different lifestyle types for adults aged over 60 years: the Sociable Adventurer, the Average Family Person, and the Uninterested Inactive. After adding these types as second-step predictors in a hierarchical regression model with sociodemographic variables (step 1), the explained variance increased significantly (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup>=.02, <i>P</i>=.001), indicating that the Average Family Person and the Sociable Adventurer use the internet more often for health information than the Uninterested Inactive, over and above their sociodemographic attributes. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that the internet still plays only a minor role in the health information–seeking behavior of older German adults. Nevertheless, there are subgroups including younger, more active, down-to-earth and family-oriented males that may be reached with online health information. Our findings suggest that lifestyle types should be taken into account when predicting health-related internet use behavior.

scholarly journals What Triggers Health Information Search: An Explorative Analysis on the Information Needs, Situations, Technologies, and Habits in Health Information Search Across the Lifespan

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-125
Author(s):  
Anoosheh Ghazanfari ◽  
Jessie Chin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Health Information Seeking ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Online Health Information Seeking

Given the access to online health information is no longer a problem, continuous growth in health information seeking has been observed. The goal of the study was to explore the triggers, information needs, contemporary technologies and habits of health information search behavior across the lifespan. The population who seeks online health information has increased stably for two decades (Diaz et al., 2002, Tennant et al., 2015). In addition to its prevalence, online health information plays an important role in patient decision-making. Almost half of people who searched for health information online reported that it influenced the way they think about health factors, and more than one third of them said it influenced their decision to see a doctor, or how they managed chronic conditions (Pew Internet Research, 2013). While earlier studies have explored the triggers of online health information seeking (e.g., Flynn, Smith & Freese, 2006), health information seeking behavior may be evolved with the development of new technologies. To explore the triggers of health information seeking across the lifespan, 69 older (mean age = 63.94, 35 female) and 67 younger (mean age = 35.21, 31 female) adults were recruited to a survey study. We found that there was no age difference in the reliance on health information sources. Physicians and the Internet remained the dominant sources of health information, followed by family, friends and pharmacists. Regarding information seeking habits, there was no age difference in the overall frequencies of online health information search despite the fact that more older adults checked health information online daily. Checking medication information was the dominant reason to trigger both younger and older adults to go online, followed by searching online after doctors’ visits, and making treatment decisions. There was also a trend that older users were more likely to go online when they heard about a new or unknown health information compared to younger users. Further, we explored the information needs of online health information search. While older adults were more likely to search for learning new information than younger adults, more younger adults looked up online health information for confirming or clarifying known health information. Taking advantage of social health information, about one half of younger and older adults shared health information online with their family and friends, and went online for checking review comments of medications, healthcare providers, etc. from their peer patients. Further, while desktop computers remained the most used technology for online health information search, an age difference was found in the usage of tablets and smartphones. Older adults used the tablets to do online health information searches more than younger adults; while younger people used the smart phones to do online health information searches more than older people. Overall, we found increasing importance of online health information for adults across the lifespan, especially for older adults who tended to use online information for acquiring new knowledge about health topics. The triggers of online health information seeking were also not only bounded to doctors’ visits but also related to daily health information needs (such as checking medications). Interestingly, the use of tablets for online health information search among older adults could be associated with the perceived ease of use of tablets among older users (portability, bigger font size and the accessibility of interactions) (Jayroe & Wolfram, 2012). As Pew Internet (2017) suggested that over a third of seniors own tablets, when designing elderly-accessible health websites, tailoring the presentation of health information to different media (including tablets) needs to be considered.

An Empirical Note on Health Vulnerability and Health Information Digital Divide

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-48
Author(s):  
Jaya Rani ◽  
Ajeya Jha ◽  
Jitendra Kumar ◽  
Samrat Kumar Mukherjee ◽  
Saibal Kumar Saha
Keyword(s):  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Healthcare Information ◽  
Information Searches ◽  
And Gender

Availability of healthcare information on the Internet has made it possible for patients or their relatives to search for such information. Considering the delicate nature of such information as well as its great need felt by the society, it is important to know who are these people who actively search for online healthcare information and also those who are unable to do so. In all, 754 respondents participated in the survey. The variables selected from literature survey and exploratory study are Health Information Digital Divide, Income, Having E-mail id, access to Internet, geographical location, Education, family-type, age, and gender. As the data is categorical, the significance of difference has been calculated using Chi-square test. Later discriminant analysis was conducted to predict patients who make online health information searches and the ones who do not. Using discriminant analysis, 94.5 percent of patients who make online health information searches could be correctly predicted. Prediction is 99.7% for the patients who do not indulge in online health information search.

Age and Neurocognition Are Associated With Credibility Evaluations of Health Websites

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle A. Babicz ◽  
Samina Rahman ◽  
Victoria Kordovski ◽  
Savanna Tierney ◽  
Steven Paul Woods
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Neurocognitive Functions ◽  
Credibility Rating ◽  
Future Work

The internet has become a common means by which many older adults seek out health information. The prevalence of misinformation on the internet makes the search for accurate online health information a more complex and evaluative process. This study examined the role of age and neurocognition in credibility evaluations of credible and non-credible health websites. Forty-one older adults and fifty younger adults completed a structured credibility rating task in which they evaluated a series of webpages displaying health information about migraine treatments. Participants also completed measures of neurocognition, internet use, and health literacy. Results suggested that older adults rated non-credible health websites as more credible than younger adults, but the age groups did not differ in their ratings of credible sites. Within the full sample, neurocognition was positively associated with credibility ratings for non-credible health websites, whereas health literacy was related to the ratings of credible sites. Findings indicate that older adults may be more likely to trust non-credible health websites than younger adults, which may relate to differences in higher-order neurocognitive functions. Future work might examine whether cognitive-based supports for credibility training in older adults can be used to improve the accuracy with which they evaluate online health information.

Seeking and Resolving Complex Online Health Information

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Sharit ◽  
Jessica Taha ◽  
Ronald W. Berkowsky ◽  
Sara J. Czaja
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Complex Health Problems ◽  
Similar Search

Presently, adults can exploit a vast amount of online health information for solving relatively complex health problems. This study examined the performance of 60 adults ranging in age from 18-82 years on a complex online health information search task. Measures of search time, amount of search, search accuracy, and six cognitive abilities were obtained. The older participants exhibited similar search accuracy, significantly less amount of search, and significantly longer time to complete the problem compared to the younger participants. For the younger participants having higher cognitive ability typically translated into significantly better search accuracy and greater amount of search accomplished. For the older participants, only processing speed significantly distinguished the lower and higher ability older adults on search accuracy and none of the ability measures differentiated these participants on amount of search. These differences and their implications are discussed in the context of supporting older online health information seekers.

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