Abstract
Deep understanding of users’ needs is crucial for developing successful digital health technology. At the beginning of system development, it is thus important to analyze and specify the context of use within the users-centered development process. Knowing what patients need to know about their health and which information sources they apply to find those, bears implications for personal health ICT conveying health information to the elderly patient. Present results from a survey on health information need and seeking behaviour of N = 551 older adults in Germany suggest that older adults are fairly satisfied with the information they get, indicating a low need to acquire health information. Higher health information need corresponds with a larger amount of health apps installed on older adults tablet PC and with the usage of smartwatches and apps in general. Finally, results support the theoretical influence of demographic variables. Here, educational attainment significantly revealed to be a main influence on information need.
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This publication is part of the research project “TECH4AGE,” financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, under Grant No: 16SV7111) and promoted by VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH.
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Theis, S. et al. (2019). What Do You Need to Know to Stay Healthy? – Health Information Needs and Seeking Behaviour of Older Adults in Germany. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 822. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96077-7_55
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