%0 Journal Article
%@ 2561-7605
%I JMIR Publications
%V 1
%N 2
%P e11051
%T Informal Caregivers’ Use of Internet-Based Health Resources: An Analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey
%A Shaffer,Kelly M
%A Chow,Philip I
%A Cohn,Wendy F
%A Ingersoll,Karen S
%A Ritterband,Lee M
%+ Center for Behavioral Health & Technology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine, PO Box 801075, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, United States, 1 434 982 1022, kshaffer@virginia.edu
%K caregivers
%K health education
%K internet
%K information dissemination
%K mobile phone
%K uncompensated care
%D 2018
%7 18.12.2018
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Aging
%G English
%X Background: Informal caregivers express strong interest in technology innovations to help them in their caregiving role; however, divides across sociodemographic characteristics in internet and technology access may preclude the most vulnerable caregivers from accessing such resources. Objective: This study aims to examine caregivers’ internet use, both generally and for seeking health-related information, and whether usage differs as a function of caregivers’ characteristics. Methods: Data were analyzed from the Health Information National Trends Survey 5 Cycle 1. Participants were included in analyses if they self-identified as providing uncompensated care to a close individual. Caregivers reported internet use factors, age, education, rurality, general health, distress, and objective caregiving burden. We used chi-square tests of independence with jackknife variance estimation to compare whether internet use factors differed by caregivers’ characteristics. Results: A total of 77.5% (303/391) caregivers surveyed reported ever using the internet. Of internet users, 88.1% (267/303) accessed from a home computer and 83.2% (252/303) from a mobile device. Most caregivers accessed health information for themselves (286/391, 73.1%) or others (264/391, 67.5%); fewer communicated with a doctor over the Web (148/391, 37.9%) or had a wellness app (171/391, 43.7%). Caregivers reporting younger age, more education, and good health were more likely to endorse any of these activities. Furthermore, two-thirds of caregivers (258/391, 66.0%) endorsed trust in health information from the internet. Conclusions: Computers and mobile devices are practical platforms for disseminating caregiving-related information and supportive services to informal caregivers; these modalities may, however, have a more limited reach to caregivers who are older, have less education, and are in poorer health. 
%M 31518244
%R 10.2196/11051
%U http://aging.jmir.org/2018/2/e11051/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/11051
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31518244