Seniors May Dash Hopes for Broader Use of Internet for Health Information

[making_art]

Seniors May Dash Hopes for Broader Use of Internet for Health Information
Seniorjournal.com
Nov. 12, 2014

Few seniors use internet for health information, especially the large number with low health literacy.

Providing health information on the internet may not be the ?cure all? that it is hoped to be, at least for senior citizens. A new study shows few Americans 65 or older use the internet to find health information and many seniors have low health literacy. Among those with poor knowledge about health, less than ten percent use the internet to seek health information. The new concern is that greater reliance on digital health information will just leave many seniors further behind.

The research report is by Helen Levy of the University of Michigan in the US, who led the first-ever study to show that elderly people?s knowledge of health matters, so-called health literacy, also predicts how and if they use the internet. The findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer.

Substantial resources and attention have been invested recently in health information technology in the US, for example by providing electronic medical records online. It is unclear, however, whether elderly patients are willing and able to put this innovation to full use. Levy?s team therefore sought to establish if there is a link between people?s levels of health literacy and their use of the internet to find information.

Data was analyzed from the 2009 and 2010 Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of more than 20,000 Americans 65 years and older.

Approximately 1,400 of the participants were queried about how often they used the internet for whatever purpose and, in particular, how often they searched for health and medical information. Their health literacy was assessed using the revised Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine questionnaire. They also rated how confident they felt about filling out medical forms.

The analysis revealed that the internet was a port of call to gain health information for 31.9 percent of the elderly participants who were well versed in health matters, while only 9.7 percent of those with low health literacy used it.

Elderly Americans with low health literacy are less likely to use the internet at all. If members of this group do surf the web, it is generally not to search for medical or health information. Health literacy was therefore found to be a significant predictor of what people do once they are online.

The analysis also showed that a person?s level of health literacy is a more important predictor of whether he or she will use the internet to get medical or health information rather than his or her cognitive functioning. Levy therefore suggests that interventions specifically targeting health literacy among older adults may help prevent a widening of the ?digital divide? as patients are increasingly expected to obtain medical information online.

?Health information technology, like any innovation in health care, offers both the promise of significant benefits and the risk that these benefits will not be shared equally,? warns Levy. ?Low health literacy may attenuate the effectiveness of web-based interventions to improve the health of vulnerable populations.?

 

[DonRita]

I was interested in connecting with Seniors through the internet for an organization. I found that some seniors were not interested in using computers after retiring; they were glad to get away from them. Some seniors found computers frustrating because they did not know any one who could help them with problems. Some had a cell phone and that was enough. Of course some seniors embraced the technology and used it a lot. I think younger seniors or seniors with a lot of education who constantly used technology in various ways benefit. But seniors in their 80s and 90s may have missed the opportunity to become familiar with technology. There is a transition here, a generation who did not grow up with or use technology as part of their every day life during their learning years. We need to be aware of that and use various tools to reach seniors.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

On the other hand, there are people like Steve and me who use the internet even more if anything because we now have more time if we want it.

I think, though, that the article was talking about using the net specifically for health information. Part of the problem there is being able to filter what comes up in Google or Bing to access the valid information and screen out the garbage or alarmist stuff. That is something I find with even younger/young people: Using search engines is an acquired skill that many simply do not have.

 

[Retired]

I found that some seniors were not interested in using computers after retiring;

That is sometimes true of people who used computers in their work in task fulfillment such as making entries of data to fill out the same form over and over as part of their job. People who used computers in their jobs that way had little or no opportunity to create content nor to be creative, and see a computer in the same way a mechanic might see a screw driver.

Living among seniors in several different places, I can say that most people in their fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and even some in their nineties use many facets of computer technology in a variety of interesting ways.

A favorite is to use Skype or Facetime with a tablet to have visual contacts with family members and grand kids.

Others are really good with photography, and email and with sharing their pictures.

Just about every home in the community in which I live in winter has multiple computers in use. Every one of my neighbors has a WiFi signal that I can see.

:computer:

 

[making_art]

There is a transition here, a generation who did not grow up with or use technology as part of their every day life during their learning years. We need to be aware of that and use various tools to reach seniors.

DonRita, I agree we need to ensure that there are various tools to reach seniors and other populations who are not online or have easy access. I was just speaking the other day with someone who works with people with intellectual disabilities that live in their own apartments. They require some assistance with daily living.

Some of our government forms and procedures have been switched to online only so they are in a bit of a pickle. There is no office they can take the form to physically anymore. They don't own a computer and they are not able to use one on their own. There is no longer a person they can call and ask questions. They have to check online to have their questions answered.