Older people's health-related ICT-use in
S. Wiklund Axelsson, A. Melander Wikman, A. Näslund, L. Nyberg
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AbstractPurpose The aim of this study was to describe the degree to which information and communication technology (ICT) was utilised by older people for health information and communication with health services during a one-year period in Sweden. Methods The participants(n=154) were aged 55 and over (mean 71.9, 52% women) and had been randomly selected from a population register. The participants responded to a survey with a set of questions about their general usage of ICT appliances, as well as their usage of different ICT tools to retrieve health information and to communicate with the health services. Results The results showed that, in contrast to a rather frequent general ICT usage, the most common way to communicate with healthcare services was by personal contacts or by a landline telephone. A mobile phone was used by 24% of such communications, SMS messagesby 11%, websites, chat forums or blogs by 4%, and audio and video communication by2%. Self-reported overweight problems, general use of mobile phone, and general use of Internet were significantly and independently associated with having experience of using mobile phones or more advanced ICT appliances in contacts with the health services. Conclusion The low health-related ICT usage found in this study may be understood as a low degree of implementation of ICT in contact with health services, but the relatively high experience of general ICT usage indicates a potential for a wider use in the future in Sweden.Keywords: aged; health services; medical informatics; survey research
S. Wiklund Axelsson, A. Melander Wikman, A. Näslund, L. Nyberg (2013). Older people's health-related ICT-use in. Gerontechnology, 12(1), 36-43
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2013.12.1.010.00