Online health information seeking in Europe: Do digital divides persist?

Abstract

First-and second-level digital divides are of great concern in health communication research and practice. It is feared that the increased importance of online health information might also increase informational inequalities between those who can and those who for different reasons cannot benefit from online health communication. Using a largescale representative survey from the 28 member states of the European Union (N = 26 566), we investigated macro-level divides between countries and micro-level divides based on sociodemographic and health-related individual characteristics. The Internet is established as a channel for health communication for substantial parts of the European population. Yet meaningful differences were still persistent even within the highly-developed region of the EU. Internet access divides were most pronounced in comparison, both at the macro and the micro level. Substantial differences were also found between the users of health-related Internet services regarding a wider range of online practices and online health literacy.

Wie informieren sich die Menschen in Deutschland zum Thema Gesundheit? Erkenntnisse aus der ersten Welle von HINTS Germany

“…Die Quantität und Heterogenität des Informationsangebotes stellt die Nutzenden vor enorme Herausforderungen, wenn es um Orientierung, Qualitätsbeurteilung und Informationsauswahl geht [5]. Dabei ist auch zu berücksichtigen, dass eine hohe Informations-und Medienkompetenz nicht in allen Bevölkerungsgruppen gleichermaßen gegeben ist und entsprechende Differenzen in der Nutzung von (Online-)Gesundheitsinformationen mit gesundheitlichen sowie sozialen Ungleichheiten assoziiert sind [6,7]. Neben der sozial ungleichen Verteilung der allgemeinen Gesundheitskompetenz [8]istdiedisparateVerteilung der Fähigkeiten im Umgang mit Gesundheitsinformationen hervorzuheben [7].…”

Health Information Seeking Among University Students Before and During the Corona Crisis—Findings From Germany

“…Health information-seeking behavior is the process of gathering information about health and disease ( 15 ). Representative surveys dealing with health information seeking in Germany show that media reporting is one of the most important sources of health information ( 16 – 18 ). These general findings are confirmed for younger age groups ( 9 ) and for the information-seeking behavior of the general population during the corona crisis ( 19 ).…”

Lifestyle Segmentation to Explain the Online Health Information–Seeking Behavior of Older Adults: Representative Telephone Survey (Preprint)

“…Given the rapid evolution in this area and the contradictory view on the role of the internet for older adults, we sought to examine the role of the internet as a source of health information for older adults in Germany and, in particular, identify which attributes best explain their online health information-seeking behavior. Research findings indicate that sociodemographic variables are strong predictors of online health information behavior [11], but they do not explain all of it. Thus, explaining the use of the internet for health information using only sociodemographic variables reflects only a part of the picture.…”

“…However, other studies show that sources such as interpersonal communication with health care providers or traditional media channels are still more important than the internet [9]. Among older adults, both data on general internet use [10] and data on online health information seeking [9,11] indicate that the internet does not play a major role as a source of health information among older adults.…”