275591
How beliefs towards ehealth communication predict preferred ehealth strategies among middle- and older-age working adults in Taiwan
Monday, November 4, 2013
: 4:30 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
Ho-Shong Hou, PhD,
Professor - National Taitung University, Taitung, Taiwan (R.O.C.), Taichung, Taiwan
Purpose: This study examined how beliefs towards eHealth communication predict preferred eHealth communication strategies among middle- and older-age adults in Taiwan, and how age, gender, and education moderate these relationships. Methods: The eHealth communication survey was administered to employee age 40+ in two major worksites in Taiwan. A previously validated eHealth communication belief inventory (eHealth-BI) with the eHealth-BI pros (4-items) and eHealth-BI cons (3-items) sub-scales, was used to assess participants' perceived usefulness (pros) and ease-of-use (cons) towards eHealth communication. Results: A total of 533 employees participated (mean age = 46.21 (SD=5.01) years). The bi-variate analyses showed that participants with higher eHealth-Pros scores were more likely to prefer the various eHealth communication strategies, and those with lowered eHealth-Cons were more likely to prefer webinar, downloadable information, and related web-links strategies. After adjusting for age, gender, and education, participants with higher eHealth-Pros (scored 16 or higher) were still more likely to endorse the various strategies: email (OR=3.65; 95%CI=[2.43, 5.48]), webinar (OR=2.21; 95%CI=[1.45, 3.38]), video (OR=2.05; 95%CI=[1.38, 3.05]), health assessment (OR=2.49; 95%CI=[1.64, 3.79]), downloadable materials (OR=3.74; 95%CI=[2.25, 5.05]), and related links (OR=3.09; 95%CI=[2.07, 4.63]) (all p<.001). The significances of eHealth-Cons were, however, disappeared. Preferred strategies were not influenced by age, gender, or education. Conclusion: Perceived usefulness towards eHealth communication (eHealth-BI Pros) was a strong and consistent predictor for the various preferred eHealth communication strategies. The study identified strategies that were perceived as most useful among middle- and older-age adults, and has implication on using the eHealth-BI tool for targeted eHealth communication interventions.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education
Learning Objectives:
Describe how perceived usefulness (eHealth-BI pros) and ease-of-use (eHealth-BI cons) influence preference on the various eHealth communication strategies.
Discuss how the eHealth-BI measurement tool could be used to identify audience who are more likely to respond to the various eHealth communication strategies.
Identify eHealth communication strategies that were perceived as most useful among middle- and older-age adults.
Keyword(s): Internet Tools, Health Communications
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I'm the PI of the study and have years of experience conducting eHealth communication related studies.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
