Colleagues,
Two recent national health and Internet technology studies have caught my attention. Articles about them have stimulated this question: Do your students use Internet technology for health-related purposes? If so, how?
A November 30, 2016 Boston Globe article by Brian MacQuarrie is about an August 2016 study of “anxiety-related” Google searches. The study, conducted by economist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, concluded that Presque Isle in northern Maine, an almost all white town with a declining population of a little over 9,000 people, is an “epicenter of anxiety”. Stephens-Davidowitz’ transcontinental survey found that those in Presque Isle have anxiety levels 21 percent above the national average. Some residents of the town speculate on what the reasons for this may be; others don’t agree with the study’s conclusions. The article describes several of these interpretations.
Presque Isle’s population is relatively low-income, with median household income under $40,000, below the national figure of $53,482; nearly 50% of families are eligible for the school lunch program. It has comparatively good high school graduation rates, 87% in 2015, but less than 20% of the adult residents hold four-year college degrees. (Sources: The Boston Globe Article, and http://public-schools.startclass.com/l/39542/Presque-Isle-High-School, based on CoreLogic, CRDC, BLS, NCES, DOE, and American Community Survey.)
The Boston Globe article includes an interesting observation by Raymond Rice, the president of University of Maine Presque Isle, who thinks “The Internet is such a source of support for people who don’t have a higher education degree.” The conclusion, he adds, is “a bit misleading because it points to the fact that in Aroostook County, what they pride themselves on is self-reliance. They will look for answers themselves.”
A December 2nd article, from Healthcare Informatics, “Study: Patients with Low Health Literacy Less Likely to use Health IT”, has a different view about non-college educated Americans’ use of health information technology. “The study examines the relationship between eHealth and health literacy by exploring an emerging concept, that of health information technology (HIT), which ranges from personalized fitness trackers to apps on smartphones, to patient portals for electronic health record (EHR) systems.”
“Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin sought to identify the correlation between health literacy and patients’ use of health IT tools in a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research titled “Health Literacy and Health Information Technology Adoption: The Potential for a New Digital Divide.”
“According to the researchers, approximately one-half of American adults exhibit low health literacy and thus struggle to find and use health information, from reading medication labels to following instructions from health care providers. Further, low health literacy is associated with negative outcomes including overall poorer health.”
Are adult learners that you know using Internet-related applications for health related purposes? If so, which ones, and how do they use them? If not, why not?
David J. Rosen, Moderator
Technology and Learning CoP
Djrosen123@gmail.com