Bin Xie
Effects of an eHealth Literacy Intervention for Older Adults
University of Maryland, College Park
background older adults generally low health computer literacies making challenging function well ehealth era technology increasingly used health care little known effective interventions strategies improving ehealth literacy older population objective objective study examine effects theorydriven ehealth literacy intervention older adults methods experimental design 2 215 2 mixed factorial design learning method collaborative individualistic betweenparticipants variable time measurement pre post withinparticipants variable total 146 older adults aged 56821191 mean 6999 sd 812 participated study february may 2011 intervention involved 2 weeks learning using national institutes health8217s seniorhealthgov website access reliable health information intervention took place public libraries participants randomly assigned either experimental condition collaborative n 72 individualistic n 74 results overall participants8217 knowledge skills ehealth literacy efficacy improved significantly pre post intervention p 60 001 cases effect sizes 6208 statistical power 100 even 01 level cases controlling baseline differences significant main effect learning method found computerweb knowledge skills ehealth literacy efficacy thus collaborative learning differ individualistic learning affecting learning outcomes significant interaction effect learning method time measurement found group composition based gender familiarity peers prior computer experience significant main interaction effect learning outcomes regardless specific learning method used participants overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward intervention reported positive changes participation health care result intervention conclusions findings provide strong evidence ehealth literacy intervention tested study regardless specific learning method used significantly improved knowledge skills ehealth literacy efficacy pre post intervention positively perceived participants led positive changes health care collaborative learning differ individualistic learning affecting learning outcomes suggesting previously widely reported advantages collaborative individualistic learning may easily applied older population informal settings though several confounding factors might contributed finding ie largely inexperienced computer user composition study sample potential instructor effect ceiling effect research necessary firm conclusion drawn findings contribute literatures adult learning social interdependence theory health literacy