eHealth

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Elderly and Internet and Computer Skills, An Update

Happy Elderly

Social Capital Divide between the young and the elderly
A social capital divide between elderly and younger people on the Internet is best described as a difference in resources that are created in social networks and relationships between people and that have a certain value or benefit for individuals participating in this network/relationships. Social capital can be created with participating in online networks such as Myspace. Age differences in online networking in Myspace exist. Elderly have fewer friends and mostly from age groups outside their own age compared to teenagers. Older people tend to be more careful and selective when choosing their friends on MySpace and only want to add to their friends list people that they know very well. Older people tend to represent themselves in a more formal and official way compared to teenagers. They tend to use less videos, music and the exchange of comments.

Learning computer skills
Another problem with the elderly can be a lack of computer skills. Despite the advantages of the Internet and advances in electronic communication, utilization of the Internet among older adults is relatively low. Improving computer skills of the elderly can enable them to access health information on the Internet and improve their health knowledge. Courses such as e-health programs can enhance the use of computers for improving knowledge of online health information. Your never to old to learn computer skills. Moreover, experience with technology, and not age, accounts for observed lifelong changes in digital literacy skills. Digital literacy improves with training in all age groups, the adult group improved significantly more than the younger participants.

A digital generational divide is developing
This indicates a gap between digitally literate users and the elderly. This has disadvantages especially for the elderly since new media and co-creation have the potential to increase individuals’ flexibility, expand opportunities for information retrieval and learning, and compensate for functional limitations such as reduced mobility, vision, hearing, and cognitive abilities. If you want to read more about how the elderly differ from the young in Internet use please read The Generational Divide in Internet use. Why this is important? These points should be kept in mind when creating a social network for the elderly. If you want to speed up the process of changing the elderly peoples’ use of computers and online communities think about these findings, and don’t forget about the In home care services that can help elderly be introduced to these new trends in the world, while also taking well care of their health

 

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The e-Patient Revolution

Interesting video on the e-Patient using e-Health.

e-Health: More than 52.2% of the European population in 2007 use the Internet for health related purposes. In 2005 this percentage was 43.2%. The use of Internet for health information is growing. In the future elderly will also participate. Interactivity will play an important role in ehealth information development.

Thanks KruResearch

 

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Medical Web 2.0 Guidance Packages at Webcinia about Cancer

medicine 2.0

On Webcinia a comprehensive an extensive resource for cancer patients and their healthcare providers is published with all the web 2.0 tools that provide support or reliable health information about cancer management

Cancer 2.0

Cancer is a class of diseases resulting from uncontrolled growth of any groups of our cells. It is the 4th cause of death globally as more than 8 million people die from cancer year by year.

Be sure to check this out at Webcinia.com

 

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Depression 2.0

medicine 2.0


Medical Web 2.0 Guidance Packages about depression on Webicinia. All the necessary online information about Depression gathered and judged by Bertalan Meskó. He is a medical student about to graduate from the University of Debrecen, Medical School and Health Science Center.
He is a medical blogger, a microblogger, a manager of medical projects in Wikipedia and an organizer of scientific events in Second Life. He has selcted an excellent collection of wikis, blogs, videos etc on depression.

A personalized set of web 2.0 tools designed to solve the problems of physicians, health care workers and patients. The package contains all the quality blogs, blog carnivals, community sites, video sites, microblogging sites, search engines, slideshows, etc. that focus on one medical condition or medical specialty.

 

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DARTS a valuable concise method to evaluate health information online

health information online

The web is often used to find medical information. An increasing number of individuals, companies and other stakeholders have their own websites. The content of these websites is largely unregulated and the enquirer has no way of telling whether the information is reliable. This makes it impossible to make an informed decision. The information found can be unreliable, unbalanced, wrong and misleading.

A short tool such as DARTS may serve as a valuable reminder to patients to assess information quality when accessing online medicines information. Due to the concise nature of the DARTS tool it may be more user-friendly than other quality assessment tools.

Many Internet users use the Internet for health related purposes, according to a recent study conducted in seven European countries, 71% of Internet users had used the Internet for health purposes.
Existing tools to evaluate online health information are hard to use by Internet users, they are too complicated and consumers may lack understanding, time, energy and interest to use these tools in practice. That way it is hard to find accurate and high quality medicines information for those seeking this kind of information on the Internet. It is difficult for consumers to access good quality health information

In a recent published research patients with depression were chosen to investigate the use of a simple quality assessment tool for the investigation of the role of the Internet as a source of information about antidepressants.

The aim of this study

The aims of this study were to investigate how people with depression assess the quality of online medicines information and to study their perceptions of the DARTS tool.

This tool is called DARTS. It comes down to the answers to 5 questions of which DARTS is an acronym:

  • Date, when was the information updated/
  • Author, who is the writer? Is he/she qualified?
  • Reference, are the references and sources of content valid?
  • Type, what is the purpose of the site?
  • Sponsor, is the site sponsored and, if so, by whom?

How was this study done?

Twenty-nine Internet users with depression from the capital area volunteered to participate in the study (26 female, 3 male). Six focus group discussions (67–109 min duration) were conducted across metropolitan Helsinki between February and April 2007. The same independent moderator conducted all focus groups and ensured all participants had an equal opportunity to engage in the discussion. Two assisting researchers observed and took notes. After obtaining written informed consent from all participants, each focus group was digitally audiotaped. Participants also completed a short survey instrument to gather demographic data and details about previous Internet usage. Data were collected and analysed until saturation was received: the same themes emerged recurrently, and no new ideas were provided.

Results

  • Participants did not systematically assess the quality of the information obtained.
  • No participants were familiar with previously developed quality assessment tools.
  • Participants were however, concerned about not being properly able to assess the quality of online medicines information.
  • Most participants believed that the DARTS tool would assist them to discriminate between high and low quality online medicines information.
  • Perceived strengths of the DARTS tool were its short length, concise nature and coverage of relevant issues.
  • Participants stated that the DARTS tool could be disseminated via magazines, pharmacies, physicians’ offices, the Internet, mental health care clinics, pharmaceutical company websites, libraries, schools, universities and campaigns on television.

Disadvantages of DARTS:

Disadvantages perceived by the participants included that DARTS would be too time-consuming to use in practice, that the criteria required further explanation to be properly useable, and that the DARTS criteria should be in your head and not on paper.

Related post on this blog:
Assess Health Information Online

ResearchBlogging.org
Ulla Närhi, Marika Pohjanoksa-Mäntylä, Anna Karjalainen, Johanna K. Saari, Hannes Wahlroos, Marja S. Airaksinen, Simon J. Bell (2008). The DARTS tool for assessing online medicines information Pharmacy World & Science, 30 (6), 898-906 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-008-9249-9

 

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140 Health Care Uses For Twitter

140 Health Care Uses For Twitter

View more presentations from philbaumann. (tags: microsharing care)

Thanks @Laikas

This ebook is from Phil Baumann active on his blog and Twitter. He is a Registered Nurse with a background in critical care, drug safety, accountancy, finance, treasury operations, and recruiting. We can also provide protection for your loan, so that you have financial back-up if you lose your job, get sick or have an accident. Visit https://citrusnorth.com/payday-advance/ for more info. His mission: I am going to discover how to improve the health of every child, woman and man on the planet. You can read more about him here

 

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More Than 50% of the European Population use Internet for eHealth

ehealth

More than 52.2% of the European population use the Internet for health related purposes. In 2005 this percentage was 43.2%

Significant growth in the use of Internet for health purposes was found in all the seven countries participating in the survey, with an average growth of 9.9% (8.5 – 11.3). Highest growth was noted in Germany (12.2%), Poland (11.8%), and Latvia (11.3%), whereas the lowest growth was noted in Portugal (9.1%), Greece (8.9%), and Norway (6.6%).

  • In the younger age group aged 15 – 25 years, 83.5% of the women used the Internet for health purposes in 2007. The corresponding proportion for men was 72.4%. At the older age group (66 – 80 years), we saw the opposite effect, where 22.6% of men and 9.9% of women used the Internet for health purposes.
  • Overall with increasing age the use of Internet for Health information decreases
  • There is considerable variation in the importance placed on the Internet as a source of health information within the seven European countries studied. In Denmark currently, the Internet is already considered the second most important source, preceded only by “health professionals”. At the other end of the scale, in Greece, the Internet is considered the least important source of information about health and health-related problems.
  • There is an increase in Internet use for health information. To a great extent this increase in use can be explained by improved Internet access.
  • Rather than using the Internet to search for and read health information, people are increasingly taking part in online communication with peers, unknown professionals, and their family doctors. In addition, the Internet is being used by more people for ordering medical health products.

How was this study done?
The survey data were collected through computer-assisted telephone interviews. A representative sample (N = 14,956) from seven European countries has been used: Denmark, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Norway, Poland, and Portugal. The European eHealth Consumer Trends Survey was first conducted in October-November 2005 and repeated in April-May 2007. In addition to providing background information, respondents were asked to rate the importance of various sources of health information. They were also queried as to the frequency of different online activities related to health and illness and the effects of such use on their disposition.

Limitations

  • Short follow-up period of 18 months.
  • No information on education of the respondents.
  • No information on income from the respondents.

The use of Internet for health information is growing. In the future elderly will also participate. Interactivity will play an important role in ehealth information development.

What do you think?

ResearchBlogging.org
Per Egil Kummervold, Catherine E Chronaki, Berthold Lausen, Hans-Ulrich Prokosch, Janne Rasmussen, Silvina Santana, Andrzej Staniszewski, Silje Camilla Wangberg (2008). eHealth Trends in Europe 2005-2007: A Population-Based Survey Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10 (4) DOI: 10.2196/jmir.1023