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.

中文翻译：

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健康老年人的个人健康信息管理：不同的需求和方法

摘要

目标

随着年龄的增长，老年人会经历更多的慢性病和医疗就诊，并且管理他们的健康信息的需求也越来越大。消费者健康信息技术 (HIT) 的技术进步可帮助患者在临床环境内外收集、跟踪和组织他们的健康信息。然而，HIT 并未关注老年人及其照料者的需求。SOARING（研究老年人并研究他们的信息需求和目标）项目的目标是了解老年人个人健康信息管理 (PHIM) 的需求和实践，以便为支持老年人的 HIT 设计提供信息。

材料和方法

借鉴工作系统模型，我们采用生态方法来调查不同住宅环境中老年人的 PHIM 需求和实践。我们对 60 岁及以上的成年人进行了深入访谈和调查。

结果

我们对 88 名总体健康的老年人在各种环境中进行了现场面对面访谈，这些环境包括独立住房、退休社区、辅助生活和无家可归者。我们的分析揭示了老年人参与的 5 项关键 PHIM 活动：寻求、跟踪、组织、共享健康信息和应急计划。我们确定了影响老年人 PHIM 实践的 3 个主要主题：（1）老年人最关心保持健康和预防疾病，（2）老年人经常让其他人参与 PHIM 活动，以及（3）老年人对 PHIM 的态度是情境和上下文相关的。

讨论

老年人处理 PHIM 的方法是动态的，对健康、社交网络、个人习惯、动机和目标的变化很敏感。

结论

满足老年人需求的 PHIM 工具应适应老龄化的动态性质以及个人、组织和社会环境的变化。