eHealth Technologies: The Faster We Go, the More We Leave Behind?

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eHealth Technologies: The Faster We Go, the More We Leave Behind?

*Lynn Sudbury-Riley

University of Liverpool Management School, Liverpool, UK
*Correspondence to L.Sudbury-Riley@Liverpool.ac.uk

Disclosure: The author has declared no conflicts of interest.
Received: 11.08.17 Accepted: 06.12.17
Citation: EMJ Innov. 2018;2[1]:56-63.

Abstract

The importance of health literacy is well recognised. Health literacy has a strong impact on health status and is crucial for empowering patients to pursue a more active role in their own healthcare. Health information is one of the most frequently searched topics on the internet, and in the current networked environment, electronic health resources are becoming increasingly vital in improving overall health literacy. New technologies that allow a myriad of eHealth applications and communication channels are revolutionising the ways in which health information is accessed and used by both providers and patients. Hence, the concept of eHealth literacy, which is an individual’s ability to find, evaluate, and apply health information from electronic sources, is a crucial area of study to understand and enhance the ways in which patients access and use eHealth information. This study examines eHealth literacy levels among a group of UK baby boomers (individuals born between 1946 and 1964) (N=407) who had recently used the internet to search for health information. The results suggest that even among this group of internet users, there are skill gaps that need to be addressed before the full potential of these electronic resources in empowering patients to play an active role in their own healthcare can be reached.

This article is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License.

The post eHealth Technologies: The Faster We Go, the More We Leave Behind? appeared first on European Medical Journal.

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