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Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults
BACKGROUND: The Internet and eHealth technologies represent new opportunities for managing health. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, and current technology use are some of the known factors that influence individuals’ uptake of eHealth; however, relatively little is known about facilitators and barrie...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
JMIR Publications
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5383803/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28336506 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.4447 |
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author | Ware, Patrick Bartlett, Susan J Paré, Guy Symeonidis, Iphigenia Tannenbaum, Cara Bartlett, Gillian Poissant, Lise Ahmed, Sara |
author_facet | Ware, Patrick Bartlett, Susan J Paré, Guy Symeonidis, Iphigenia Tannenbaum, Cara Bartlett, Gillian Poissant, Lise Ahmed, Sara |
author_sort | Ware, Patrick |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The Internet and eHealth technologies represent new opportunities for managing health. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, and current technology use are some of the known factors that influence individuals’ uptake of eHealth; however, relatively little is known about facilitators and barriers to eHealth uptake specific to older adults, particularly as they relate to their experiences in accessing health care. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to explore the interests, preferences, and concerns of older adults in using the Internet and eHealth technologies for managing their health in relation to their experiences with the current health care system. METHODS: Two focus groups (n=15) were conducted with adults aged 50+ years. Pragmatic thematic analysis using an inductive approach was conducted to identify the interests, preferences, and concerns of using the Internet and eHealth technologies. RESULTS: Five themes emerged that include (1) Difficulty in identifying credible and relevant sources of information on the Web; (2) Ownership, access, and responsibility for medical information; (3) Peer communication and support; (4) Opportunities to enhance health care interactions; and (5) Privacy concerns. These findings support the potential value older adults perceive in eHealth technologies, particularly in their ability to provide access to personal health information and facilitate communication between providers and peers living with similar conditions. However, in order to foster acceptance, these technologies will need to provide personal and general health information that is secure, readily accessible, and easily understood. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults have diverse needs and preferences that, in part, are driven by their experiences and frustrations with the health care system. Results can help inform the design and implementation of technologies to address gaps in care and access to health information for older adults with chronic conditions who may benefit the most from this approach. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5383803 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-53838032017-04-24 Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults Ware, Patrick Bartlett, Susan J Paré, Guy Symeonidis, Iphigenia Tannenbaum, Cara Bartlett, Gillian Poissant, Lise Ahmed, Sara Interact J Med Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: The Internet and eHealth technologies represent new opportunities for managing health. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, and current technology use are some of the known factors that influence individuals’ uptake of eHealth; however, relatively little is known about facilitators and barriers to eHealth uptake specific to older adults, particularly as they relate to their experiences in accessing health care. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to explore the interests, preferences, and concerns of older adults in using the Internet and eHealth technologies for managing their health in relation to their experiences with the current health care system. METHODS: Two focus groups (n=15) were conducted with adults aged 50+ years. Pragmatic thematic analysis using an inductive approach was conducted to identify the interests, preferences, and concerns of using the Internet and eHealth technologies. RESULTS: Five themes emerged that include (1) Difficulty in identifying credible and relevant sources of information on the Web; (2) Ownership, access, and responsibility for medical information; (3) Peer communication and support; (4) Opportunities to enhance health care interactions; and (5) Privacy concerns. These findings support the potential value older adults perceive in eHealth technologies, particularly in their ability to provide access to personal health information and facilitate communication between providers and peers living with similar conditions. However, in order to foster acceptance, these technologies will need to provide personal and general health information that is secure, readily accessible, and easily understood. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults have diverse needs and preferences that, in part, are driven by their experiences and frustrations with the health care system. Results can help inform the design and implementation of technologies to address gaps in care and access to health information for older adults with chronic conditions who may benefit the most from this approach. JMIR Publications 2017-03-23 /pmc/articles/PMC5383803/ /pubmed/28336506 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.4447 Text en ©Patrick Ware, Susan J Bartlett, Guy Paré, Iphigenia Symeonidis, Cara Tannenbaum, Gillian Bartlett, Lise Poissant, Sara Ahmed. Originally published in the Interactive Journal of Medical Research (http://www.i-jmr.org/), 23.03.2017. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Interactive Journal of Medical Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.i-jmr.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Ware, Patrick Bartlett, Susan J Paré, Guy Symeonidis, Iphigenia Tannenbaum, Cara Bartlett, Gillian Poissant, Lise Ahmed, Sara Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults |
title | Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults |
title_full | Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults |
title_fullStr | Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults |
title_full_unstemmed | Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults |
title_short | Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of Older Adults |
title_sort | using ehealth technologies: interests, preferences, and concerns of older adults |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5383803/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28336506 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.4447 |
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