Title: The role of online health information in the lives of Finns aged 65 to 79 years

Authors: Kristina Eriksson-Backa

Addresses: School of Business and Economics/Information Studies, Åbo Akademi University, Fänriksgatan 3B, FI-20500 Åbo, Finland

Abstract: Older adults are thought to benefit from health communication through the internet, but many of them avoid internet resources due to lack of technical skills, impairments, or distrust, and prefer health professionals. This paper presents results from a survey and an interview. Questionnaires were in January 2011 distributed to 1,000 Finns aged 65 to 79 years in Southwest Finland, and 281 questionnaires were returned. Of 49 follow-up interviews conducted with the respondents, 19 are included in this study. The results confirm that the internet is of fairly little importance for older Finns seeking health information, and that many older, people with lower levels of education, and people rating their health as poor, do not use it at all. Health and information providers should be cautious to rely on seniors to take care of themselves and their health through internet information, as there is a digital divide between people of varying demographic background.

Keywords: elderly; old people; Finland; health information systems; health information literacy; information sources; internet; older adults; online information; seniors; web resources; digital divide; demographics; healthcare information; e-health; electronic healthcare.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2013.058438

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2013 Vol.13 No.1, pp.5 - 23

Received: 02 Jul 2013
Accepted: 28 Sep 2013

Published online: 19 Jul 2014 *

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