IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/lum/rev11d/v28y2021ip216-244.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Use of the Internet by Older People for Health-Related Issues: A Case Study of German Seniors

Author

Listed:
  • Simona Rodat

    (Professor Ph.D., Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences, Adventus University, Cernica, Ilfov, Romania)

Abstract

Today, people are increasingly informed about health-related issues and are taking on a participatory role in healthcare. The active search for information, facilitated in particular by the internet, through which individuals try to support their decisions about their own health, as well as the involvement in medical interaction from a decision-making position, have become common practice. In this trend towards informative, interpretive and deliberative models that currently mark the healthcare and the relationship between physician and patient, the older people constitute a particular age group, given that, on the one hand, they have their own pace of adaptation to the new ways of communication and information, and on the other hand, they grew up and lived a large part of their life in a culture where the doctor made all the critical decisions. This paper addresses the issue of the use of the internet for health-related problems by the seniors. The results of a case study of the older people in Germany, which involved a qualitative research based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, are presented and discussed. The main objectives and research questions that were pursued in the study aimed to identify the major aspects of the forms and content of the internet use by seniors for medical information and decisions, as well as to delimit the influences of this new way of information and communication, specific to the current trend in healthcare, on real medical communication, both with doctors and other patients, as well as on medical practice and experiences in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Simona Rodat, 2021. "Use of the Internet by Older People for Health-Related Issues: A Case Study of German Seniors," Anuarul Universitatii „Petre Andrei” din Iasi / Year-Book „Petre Andrei” University from Iasi, Fascicula: Drept, Stiinte Economice, Stiinte Politice / Fascicle: Law, Economic Sciences, Political Scien, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 28, pages 216-244, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:lum:rev11d:v:28:y:2021:i::p:216-244
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.18662/upalaw/78
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://lumenpublishing.com/journals/index.php/upa-sw/article/view/5036
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.18662/upalaw/78?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guy Carrin & Chris James, 2005. "Social Health Insurance: Key Factors Affecting the Transition Towards Universal Coverage," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(1), pages 45-64, January.
    2. Breemhaar, B. & Visser, A. Ph. & Kleijnen, J. G. V. M., 1990. "Perceptions and behaviour among elderly hospital patients: Description and explanation of age differences in satisfaction, knowledge, emotions and behaviour," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1377-1385, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. William C. Hsiao & R. Paul Shaw, 2007. "Social Health Insurance for Developing Nations," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6860, December.
    2. Jung, Juergen & Tran, Chung, 2022. "Social health insurance: A quantitative exploration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Noorhidayu Monyati Mohamed Noor & Mohd Ismail Ibrahim & Suhaily Mohd Hairon & Maizun Mohd Zain & Mohd Saiful Nazri Satiman, 2023. "Predictors of Healthcare Workers’ Compassionate Care Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study from Patients’ Perspective in Kelantan, Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Ying Zhang & Rui Wang & Xinyi Yao, 2019. "Assessing determinants of health care prepayment in China: Economic growth or government willingness? New evidence from the continuous wavelet analysis," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 694-712, January.
    5. Molina, Oswaldo, 2018. "Innovation in an unfavorable context: Local mining suppliers in Peru," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 34-48.
    6. Mohammad Abu‐Zaineh & Olivier Chanel & Khaled Makhloufi, 2022. "Estimating willingness to pay for public health insurance while accounting for protest responses: A further step towards universal health coverage in Tunisia?," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 2809-2821, September.
    7. Neale R. Chumbler & Koichiro Otani & Samir P. Desai & Patrick A. Herrmann & Richard S. Kurz, 2016. "Hospitalized Older Adults’ Patient Satisfaction," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, April.
    8. Robin Tiow Heng Tan & Siti Zaleha Abdul Rasid & Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail & Janiza Tobechan & Edwin Tiow Yong Tan & Alia Natasha Yusof & Jia Hui Low, 2022. "Willingness to Pay for National Health Insurance: A Contingent Valuation Study Among Patients Visiting Public Hospitals in Melaka, Malaysia," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 255-267, March.
    9. Weon-Young Lee & Ian Shaw, 2014. "The Impact of Out-of-Pocket Payments on Health Care Inequity: The Case of National Health Insurance in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    older people; health-related internet use; ; health-related online information; medical communication; German seniors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:lum:rev11d:v:28:y:2021:i::p:216-244. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Antonio Sandu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edituralumen.ro .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.