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Features for Senior Citizens
Patients with a Disability or Chronic Disease
Reluctantly Turn to Web for Help
Mostly older people, less likely than others to go online, but once online, are avid
health consumers.
By Susannah Fox, Associate Director
Pew Internet & American Life Project
 Oct. 9, 2007 - About a fifth of American adults say
that a disability, handicap, or chronic disease keeps them from
participating fully in work, school, housework, or other activities.
Half (51%) of those living with a disability or chronic disease go
online, compared to 74% of those who report no chronic conditions.
Fully
86% of internet users living with disability or chronic illness have
looked online for information about at least one of 17 health topics,
compared with 79% of internet users with no chronic conditions.
Throughout this report, we refer to internet users
who have looked online for health information as "e-patients." And we
refer to those who identify themselves as living with disabilities or
chronic disease that prevents them from participating fully in work,
school, housework, or other activities as those having "chronic
conditions."
This population is characterized by a comparatively
greater portion of people age 50 and older and those who do not use a
computer on a regular basis.
Those with chronic conditions are more likely than
other e-patients to report that their online searches affected treatment
decisions, their interactions with their doctors, their ability to cope
with their condition, and their dieting and fitness regimen.
In order to capture a portrait of a typical health
search, we asked respondents to think about the most recent time they
had gone online for health or medical information. Fifty-three percent
of all e-patients say their last search had an impact on their own
health care or the way they care for someone else; 42% say it had a
minor impact and 11% say the last search had a major impact.
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iGuard Drug Safety Alert is Newest Reason Senior
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 Oct. 9, 2007 – Almost weekly there is a new and
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which promises potentially life-saving help to seniors, is iGuard. This
is a free service to access current information about the risk profile
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Read more...
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However, e-patients living with chronic disease or
disability who reported any impact, major or minor, were significantly
more likely than other e-patients to describe the following four
effects:
● 75% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
the information they found in their last search affected a decision
about how to treat an illness or condition, compared with 55% of
e-patients who report no disability or illness.
● 69% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
the information led them to ask a doctor new questions or to get a
second opinion from another doctor, compared with 52% of other
e-patients.
● 57% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
the information changed the way they cope with a chronic condition or
manage pain, compared with 36% of other e-patients.
● 56% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
the information changed the way they think about diet, exercise, or
stress management, compared with 42% of other e-patients.
Two effects were reported by statistically
equivalent percentages of both e-patient groups:
● 61% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
the information they found during their most recent search changed their
overall approach to maintaining their health or the health of someone
they help take care of, compared with 54% of other e-patients
● 36% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
the information affected a decision about whether to see a doctor,
compared with 35% of other e-patients.
E-patients with chronic conditions are less
likely than others to start their information queries at search engines.
Fifty-six percent of e-patients with chronic
conditions began their last online health inquiry at a search engine;
37% began at a health-related website. This is somewhat different from
e-patients who report no disability or illness: 67% of that group starts
at a search engine and 27% start at a certain website.
E-patients with chronic conditions are more
likely than other health seekers to go online for information about
their own conditions.
Not surprisingly, e-patients with chronic
conditions tend to devote more attention to their conditions than those
who report no serious illness or disability. Fifty-three percent of
e-patients with chronic conditions say their last search was in relation
to their own health questions, whereas 33% of e-patients with no chronic
conditions say their last search was in relation to their own health or
medical situation.
E-patients with chronic conditions have mostly
positive things to say about their online health searches, but they are
more likely than others to report frustration as well.
Most e-patients, including those living with
chronic conditions, are likely to identify with positive descriptions of
their last search for health information online. The following responses
were in line with answers from the general population of internet users
who go online for health information.
On the positive side:
● 71% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
they felt reassured that they could make appropriate health care
decisions during their last search for health information online.
● 59% say they felt relieved or comforted by the
information they found online.
● 56% say they felt confident to raise new
questions or concerns about a health issue with their doctor.
● 55% say they felt eager to share their new
health or medical knowledge with others.
On the negative side:
● 30% say they felt overwhelmed by the amount of
information they found online.
● 19% say they felt confused by the information
they found online.
● 9% say they felt frightened by the serious or
graphic nature of the information they found online
One question elicited different responses from the
two groups:
● 31% of e-patients with chronic conditions say
they felt frustrated by a lack of information or an inability to find
what they were looking for online, compared with 20% of e-patients who
report no chronic conditions.
Most e-patients with chronic conditions do not
consistently check the source and date of the health information they
find online.
Just 14% of e-patients living with disability or
chronic disease say they "always" check the source and date of the
health information they find online, while another 18% say they do so
"most of the time."
Sixty-seven percent of e-patients with chronic
conditions say they check the source and date "only sometimes," "hardly
ever," or "never." These figures are not markedly different from the
responses provided by other e-patients, although those living with
chronic conditions are less likely than those with no chronic conditions
to say they "never" check the source and date (13%, compared with 22%).
As we reported in "Online Health Search 2006,"1 the
cause of diminished diligence in checking quality indicators might lie
with health websites themselves: A study commissioned by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services found that just 4% of
"frequently visited" health websites disclosed the source of the
information on their pages and 2% disclosed how the content is updated.2
The impact of the most recent search for health
information was most deeply felt by internet users who had received a
serious diagnosis or experienced a health crisis in the past year.
One-quarter of adults (27%) say they or someone
close to them has been diagnosed in the last 12 months with a chronic
medical condition, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, or high
blood pressure. One-third (34%) of American adults say they or someone
close to them faced a serious medical emergency or crisis in the past 12
months. Members of these two groups who have searched online for health
information are more likely than other e-patients to say the information
they found had a major impact on their own care or the way they care for
someone else.
Notes
1"Online
Health Search 2006" (Pew Internet & American Life Project, Oct. 29,
2006).
2"Report
on Objective 11-4: Estimating the Proportion of Health Related Websites
Disclosing Information That Can Be Used to Assess Their Quality"
(Department of Health and Human Services, May 30 2006).
>>
Read the full report at pewinternet.org
>>
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