Dataset Information

Personal health information management among healthy older adults: Varying needs and approaches.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

With age, older adults experience a greater number of chronic diseases and medical visits, and an increased need to manage their health information. Technological advances in consumer health information technologies (HITs) help patients gather, track, and organize their health information within and outside of clinical settings. However, HITs have not focused on the needs of older adults and their caregivers. The goal of the SOARING (Studying Older Adults and Researching their Information Needs and Goals) Project was to understand older adult personal health information management (PHIM) needs and practices to inform the design of HITs that support older adults.

Materials and methods

Drawing on the Work System Model, we took an ecological approach to investigate PHIM needs and practices of older adults in different residential settings. We conducted in-depth interviews and surveys with adults 60 years of age and older.

Results

We performed on-site in-person interview sessions with 88 generally healthy older adults in various settings including independent housing, retirement communities, assisted living, and homelessness. Our analysis revealed 5 key PHIM activities that older adults engage in: seeking, tracking, organizing, sharing health information, and emergency planning. We identified 3 major themes influencing older adults' practice of PHIM: (1) older adults are most concerned with maintaining health and preventing illness, (2) older adults frequently involve others in PHIM activities, and (3) older adults' approach to PHIM is situational and context-dependent.

Discussion

Older adults' approaches to PHIM are dynamic and sensitive to changes in health, social networks, personal habits, motivations, and goals.

Conclusions

PHIM tools that meet the needs of older adults should accommodate the dynamic nature of aging and variations in individual, organizational, and social contexts.

SUBMITTER: Turner AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7883968 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundOlder adults face growing health care needs and could potentially benefit from personal health information management (PHIM) and PHIM technology. To ensure effective PHIM and to provide supportive tools, it is crucial to investigate the needs, challenges, processes, and tools used by this subpopulation. The literature on PHIM by older adults, however, remains scattered and has not provided a clear picture of what we know about the elements that play a role in older adults' PHIM.ObjectiveThe goal of our review was to provide a comprehensive overview of extant knowledge on PHIM by older adults, establish the status quo of research on this topic, and identify research gaps.MethodsWe carried out a scoping review of the literature from 1998 to 2020, which followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) framework. First, we executed a broad and structured search. We then carried out a qualitative analysis of papers pertinent to the topic taking into consideration the five elements of the patient work system as follows: (1) personal-level factors, (2) PHIM tasks, (3) tools used, (4) physical settings of PHIM activities, and (5) socio-organizational aspects.ResultsThe review included 22 studies. Consolidated empirical evidence was related to all elements of the patient work system. Multiple personal factors affected PHIM. Various types of personal health information were managed (clinical, patient-generated, and general) and tools were used (electronic, paper-based, and others). Older adults' PHIM was intertwined with their surroundings, and various individuals participated. The largest body of evidence concerned personal factors, while findings regarding the physical environment of PHIM were scarce. Most research has thus far examined older adults as a single group, and scant attention has been paid to age subgroups.ConclusionsOpportunities for further PHIM studies remain across all elements of the patient work system in terms of empirical, design science, or review work.