Exploring digital divides: An examination of eHealth technology use in health information seeking, communication and personal health information management in the USA

Abstract

Recent government initiatives to deploy health information technology in the USA, coupled with a growing body of scholarly evidence linking online heath information and positive health-related behaviors, indicate a widespread belief that access to health information and health information technologies can help reduce healthcare inequalities. However, it is less clear whether the benefits of greater access to online health information and health information technologies is equitably distributed across population groups, particularly to those who are underserved. To examine this issue, this article employs the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) to investigate relationships between a variety of socio-economic variables and the use of the web-based technologies for health information seeking, personal health information management and patient-provider communication within the context of the USA. This study reveals interesting patterns in technology adoption, some of which are in line with previous studies, while others are less clear. Whether these patterns indicate early evidence of a narrowing divide in eHealth technology use across population groups as a result of the narrowing divide in Internet access and computer ownership warrants further exploration. In particular, the findings emphasize the need to explore differences in the use of eHealth tools by medically underserved and disadvantaged groups. In so doing, it will be important to explore other psychosocial variables, such as health literacy, that may be better predictors of health consumers' eHealth technology adoption.

Implications of social media use on health information technology engagement: Data from HINTS 4 cycle 3

“…HIT engagement is more common among certain demographic groups. High educational attainment [8][9][10], female gender [7,9,11], individuals with chronic health conditions such as cancer or caregivers for those with a chronic condition [12][13][14], and higher income [15] were predictors of HIT engagement. Older adults (65 years of age and older) are less likely to engage in HIT activities [15][16][17][18], including accessing personal health records electronically [16].…”

Internet Use and Cancer-Preventive Behaviors in Older Adults: Findings from a Longitudinal Cohort Study

“…Results from the Health Information and National Trends Survey (HINTS) in the United States and an Australian survey show the public to be increasingly engaged with online health information (18)(19)(20)(21). In the cancer field, use of online information by cancer survivors is well documented (22)(23)(24)(25)(26), and the Internet is being used as a resource for cancer-related information in the general population (27).…”

Chronic disease and use of online health information and online health services

“…[5,35] On the positive side some studies point that use OHS increases the odds for monitoring a health problem in time due to delayed face-to-face appointments or timely access to the results of lab tests. [10,18,30,36,37] In a recent study among small samples of white females with diabetes, for example participants reported greater self-efficacy for managing their disease [23] the benefits of communicating with health care providers and/or website moderators to receive feedback and social support and tracking (e.g., graphical displays of uploaded personal data) were shown to particularly useful for self-management support but less so for improvements in medication adherence, biological outcomes and health care utilization. [38] On the negative side some studies suggest that use of OHS may fall behind the intended purposes and fail in providing effective health services.…”

“…Health behavior according to Bandura's self-efficacy hypothesis [12] can be promoted by social-cognitive means available ion OHI [13,14] and according to the Media Dependency Hypothesis, can be further amplified by the use of OHS [10,15] increasing the advantages of self-management practices in health [16] and significant effects that OHS or lack of, may have on CD patients [4,[17][18][19] have been reported especially among patients diagnosed with cancer, [20,21] heart condition, [22] diabetes [23] and other long-term conditions. [24,25] Use of OHS is indeed considered as significant means for self-management because it facilitates treatment and follow ups and prevents unnecessary health complications.…”

“…OHI enables to search for medications, detailed descriptions of symptoms and cures, searching for new treatments, specialists, alternative therapies, new methods of diagnosis [6,9,10] attracting individuals keen to be involved in medical health decisions. [4] Ultimately, a health improvement "process" is initiated that increases the potential for the selfmanagement of CD and the motivation to take an active part in preventing, caring and following-up on health issues.…”