scholarly journals Differences in the Level of Electronic Health Literacy Between Users and Nonusers of Digital Health Services: An Exploratory Survey of a Group of Medical Outpatients

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e8423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamila Adellund Holt ◽  
Astrid Karnoe ◽  
Dorthe Overgaard ◽  
Sidse Edith Nielsen ◽  
Lars Kayser ◽  
...  
Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocco Palumbo ◽  
Capolupo Nicola ◽  
Paola Adinolfi

PurposePromoting health literacy, i.e. the ability to access, collect, understand and use health-related information, is high on the health policy agenda across the world. The digitization of health-care calls for a reframing of health literacy in the cyber-physical environment. The article systematizes current scientific knowledge about digital health literacy and investigates the role of health-care organizations in delivering health literate health-care services in a digital environment.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was accomplished. A targeted query to collect relevant scientific contributions was run on PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. A narrative approach was undertaken to summarize the study findings and to envision avenues for further development in the field of digital health literacy.FindingsDigital health literacy has peculiar attributes as compared with health literacy. Patients may suffer from a lack of human touch when they access health services in the digital environment. This may impair their ability to collect health information and to appropriately use it to co-create value and to co-produce health promotion and risk prevention services. Health-care organizations should strive for increasing the patients’ ability to navigate the digital health-care environment and boosting the latter’s value co-creation capability.Practical implicationsTailored solutions should be designed to promote digital health literacy at the individual and organizational level. On the one hand, attention should be paid to the patients’ special digital information needs and to avoid flaws in their ability to contribute to health services’ co-production. On the other hand, health-care organizations should be involved in the design of user-friendly e-health solutions, which aim at engaging patients in value co-creation.Originality/valueThis contribution is a first attempt to systematize extant scientific knowledge in the field of digital health literacy specifically focused on the strategies and initiatives that health-care organizations may take to address the limited digital health literacy pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne Støre Valeur ◽  
Anne Kveim Lie ◽  
Kåre Moen

BACKGROUND Patient-accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) enable patients to access their health records through a secure connection over the internet. Although previous studies of patient experiences with this kind of service have shown that a majority of users are positive toward PAEHRs, little is known about why some patients occasionally or regularly choose not to use them. A better understanding of why patients may choose not to make use of digital health services such as PAEHRs is important for further development and implementation of services aimed at having patients participate in digital health services. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to explore patients’ rationales for not embracing online access to health records. METHODS Qualitative interviews were conducted with 40 patients in a department of internal medicine in a Norwegian hospital in 2018-2019. Interview transcripts were subjected to thematic content analysis. In this paper, we focus on the subject of nonuse of PAEHRs. RESULTS We identified 8 different rationales that study participants had for not embracing PAEHRs. When patients reflected on why they might not use PAEHRs, they variously explained that they found PAEHRs unnecessary (they did not feel they were useful), impersonal (they preferred oral dialogue with their doctor or nurse over written information), incomprehensible (the records contained medical terminology and explanations that were hard to understand), misery oriented (the records solely focused on disease), fear provoking (reading the records could cause unwanted emotional reactions), energy demanding (making sense of the records added to the work of being a patient), cumbersome (especially among patients who felt they did not have the necessary digital competence), and impoverishing (they were skeptical about the digital transformation of individual and social life). CONCLUSIONS It is often assumed that the barriers to PAEHR use are mostly practical (such as lack of hardware and access to the internet). In this study, we showed that patients may have many other valid reasons for not wanting to adopt this kind of service. The results can help guide how PAEHRs and other digital health services are promoted and presented to patients, and they may suggest that the goal of a given new digital health service should not necessarily be full uptake by all patients. Rather, one should recognize that different patients might prefer and benefit from different kinds of “analog” and digital health services.


10.2196/24090 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. e24090
Author(s):  
Hanne Støre Valeur ◽  
Anne Kveim Lie ◽  
Kåre Moen

Background Patient-accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) enable patients to access their health records through a secure connection over the internet. Although previous studies of patient experiences with this kind of service have shown that a majority of users are positive toward PAEHRs, little is known about why some patients occasionally or regularly choose not to use them. A better understanding of why patients may choose not to make use of digital health services such as PAEHRs is important for further development and implementation of services aimed at having patients participate in digital health services. Objective The objective of the study was to explore patients’ rationales for not embracing online access to health records. Methods Qualitative interviews were conducted with 40 patients in a department of internal medicine in a Norwegian hospital in 2018-2019. Interview transcripts were subjected to thematic content analysis. In this paper, we focus on the subject of nonuse of PAEHRs. Results We identified 8 different rationales that study participants had for not embracing PAEHRs. When patients reflected on why they might not use PAEHRs, they variously explained that they found PAEHRs unnecessary (they did not feel they were useful), impersonal (they preferred oral dialogue with their doctor or nurse over written information), incomprehensible (the records contained medical terminology and explanations that were hard to understand), misery oriented (the records solely focused on disease), fear provoking (reading the records could cause unwanted emotional reactions), energy demanding (making sense of the records added to the work of being a patient), cumbersome (especially among patients who felt they did not have the necessary digital competence), and impoverishing (they were skeptical about the digital transformation of individual and social life). Conclusions It is often assumed that the barriers to PAEHR use are mostly practical (such as lack of hardware and access to the internet). In this study, we showed that patients may have many other valid reasons for not wanting to adopt this kind of service. The results can help guide how PAEHRs and other digital health services are promoted and presented to patients, and they may suggest that the goal of a given new digital health service should not necessarily be full uptake by all patients. Rather, one should recognize that different patients might prefer and benefit from different kinds of “analog” and digital health services.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Areti Efthymiou ◽  
Nicos Middleton ◽  
Andreas Charalambous ◽  
Evridiki Papastavrou

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gülbahar Korkmaz Aslan ◽  
Asiye Kartal ◽  
Türkan Turan ◽  
Gülay Taşdemir Yiğitoğlu ◽  
Cansel Kocakabak

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

Abstract Health literacy (HL) has become an important topic in many countries. As HL - meaning the ability to access, understand, appraise and apply health information (Sørensen et al. 2012) - is important to make sound health decisions, to promote health and to take an active part in managing health and illness in everyday life and navigating the health care system. In the modern digital knowledge society, HL is also indispensable for orienting oneself in the abundance of mostly digital health information, including incorrect and false information, for locating reliable information and for assessing the trustworthiness and quality of information. However, available studies show that HL is insufficient in many countries. Low HL has - as many studies show - negative social consequences ranging from unhealthy behaviour, higher risk for diseases, less self-care and deficits in coping with illness and chronicity, to over- and misuse (extensive use) of health care. The promotion of HL is therefore an important public health task. An increasing number of population studies and policy documents currently underline this. The WHO has therefore included HL into many of its strategies, like the declarations of Shanghai (2016) and Astana (2018), and has published several publications focusing on HL, like the Solid Facts (2013), the 57th Health Evidence Network Report (2018) or the Roadmap for Implementing Health Literacy Activities (2019). In many countries, strategies and national action plans to improve HL have been developed in response to the political call for action, e.g. in Scotland, Germany and recently also in Portugal. Other countries and regions are currently working on the development of a HL action plan, e.g. Belgium and the WHO European Region action plan on HL. The development and especially the implementation strategies of action plans in different countries and the experiences gained will be discussed comparatively in the workshop. Following an introduction (10'), two countries, which already have action plans will introduce their implementation strategy in one presentation each: Germany and Portugal (30'). This will be followed by two presentations of countries/regions in which action plans are currently being developed: Belgium and WHO Europe (30'). Afterwards the participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss on the different strategies (20'). The workshop will help other initiatives to successfully develop and implement policy plans and strategies in different fields of public health. Key messages Strategies and national action plans to improve HL have been developed in different countries/regions. It is important to reflect on the chosen development and implementation strategies and to discuss their effects, successes and barriers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Piper ◽  
Tracey A. Davenport ◽  
Haley LaMonica ◽  
Antonia Ottavio ◽  
Frank Iorfino ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The World Economic Forum has recently highlighted substantial problems in mental health service provision and called for the rapid deployment of smarter, digitally-enhanced health services as a means to facilitate effective care coordination and address issues of demand. In mental health, the biggest enabler of digital solutions is the implementation of an effective model of care that is facilitated by integrated health information technologies (HITs); the latter ensuring the solution is easily accessible, scalable and sustainable. The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre (BMC) has developed an innovative digital health solution – delivered through the Youth Mental Health and Technology Program – which incorporates two components: 1) a highly personalised and measurement-based (data-driven) model of youth mental health care; and 2) an industrial grade HIT registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. This paper describes a research protocol to evaluate the impact of implementing the BMC’s digital health solution into youth mental health services (i.e. headspace - a highly accessible, youth-friendly integrated service that responds to the mental health, physical health, alcohol or other substance use, and vocational concerns of young people aged 12 to 25 years) within urban and regional areas of Australia. Methods The digital health solution will be implemented into participating headspace centres using a naturalistic research design. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected from headspace health professionals, service managers and administrators, as well as from lead agency and local Primary Health Network (PHN) staff, via service audits, Implementation Officer logs, online surveys, and semi-structured interviews, at baseline and then three-monthly intervals over the course of 12 months. Discussion At the time of publication, six headspace centres had been recruited to this study and had commenced implementation and impact evaluation. The first results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2021. This study will focus on the impact of implementing a digital health solution at both a service and staff level, and will evaluate digital readiness of service and staff adoption; quality, usability and acceptability of the solution by staff; staff self-reported clinical competency; overall impact on headspace centres as well as their lead agencies and local PHNs; and social return on investment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (Suppl 5) ◽  
pp. e005242
Author(s):  
Sunita Nadhamuni ◽  
Oommen John ◽  
Mallari Kulkarni ◽  
Eshan Nanda ◽  
Sethuraman Venkatraman ◽  
...  

In its commitment towards Sustainable Development Goals, India envisages comprehensive primary health services as a key pillar in achieving universal health coverage. Embedded in siloed vertical programmes, their lack of interoperability and standardisation limits sustainability and hence their benefits have not been realised yet. We propose an enterprise architecture framework that overcomes these challenges and outline a robust futuristic digital health infrastructure for delivery of efficient and effective comprehensive primary healthcare. Core principles of an enterprise platform architecture covering four platform levers to facilitate seamless service delivery, monitor programmatic performance and facilitate research in the context of primary healthcare are listed. A federated architecture supports the custom needs of states and health programmes through standardisation and decentralisation techniques. Interoperability design principles enable integration between disparate information technology systems to ensure continuum of care across referral pathways. A responsive data architecture meets high volume and quality requirements of data accessibility in compliance with regulatory requirements. Security and privacy by design underscore the importance of building trust through role-based access, strong user authentication mechanisms, robust data management practices and consent. The proposed framework will empower programme managers with a ready reference toolkit for designing, implementing and evaluating primary care platforms for large-scale deployment. In the context of health and wellness centres, building a responsive, resilient and reliable enterprise architecture would be a fundamental path towards strengthening health systems leveraging digital health interventions. An enterprise architecture for primary care is the foundational building block for an efficient national digital health ecosystem. As citizens take ownership of their health, futuristic digital infrastructure at the primary care level will determine the health-seeking behaviour and utilisation trajectory of the nation.


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