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Health Information Literacy of Senior Citizens – A Review

  • Conference paper
Information Literacy. Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century (ECIL 2014)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 492))

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the available literature on health information literacy of senior citizens from around the world and outline the major findings from this literature. A systematic review of literature from 2004 to 2014 was conducted using nine relevant databases, which yielded 42 quantitative studies, which were analyzed. The analysis revealed that information seeking behavior varied by age, gender, health status, education, socio-economic status and technology literacy. Over time, there has been a gradual increase in the use of the Internet by senior citizens seeking health information. Also, there has been a corresponding increase in a number of intervention studies in e-health literacy for senior citizens. Shortcomings in the literature include compromised methodological issues of inadequately powered sample size, absence of longitudinal and theory-based studies, and dearth of research on relevant outcomes. The article ends with a discussion of the relevance of the findings to IL researchers and practitioners, and suggestions for further research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, 04–39, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637718, Singapore

    Venkata Ratnadeep Suri, Yun-Ke Chang, Shaheen Majid & Schubert Foo

Authors
  1. Venkata Ratnadeep Suri
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  2. Yun-Ke Chang
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  3. Shaheen Majid
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  4. Schubert Foo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Management, Faculty of Letters, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey

    Serap Kurbanoğlu

  2. Department of Information and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Sonja Špiranec

  3. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Esther Grassian

  4. University of California Los Angeles, USA

    Diane Mizrachi

  5. University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK

    Ralph Catts

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Suri, V.R., Chang, YK., Majid, S., Foo, S. (2014). Health Information Literacy of Senior Citizens – A Review. In: Kurbanoğlu, S., Špiranec, S., Grassian, E., Mizrachi, D., Catts, R. (eds) Information Literacy. Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century. ECIL 2014. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 492. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14136-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14136-7_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14135-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14136-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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