Analysing Digital Information Seeking and Quality Evaluation of Sources about Healthy Lifestyle among Senior Citizens in Iceland

Abstract

As a key to senior citizens health and well-being it is important to support their possibilities to be actively involved in health promotional interventions through life-long learning. The study aims at understanding better older people’s digital information seeking, their source preferences and how they evaluate the quality of the information. An improved awareness of the issue may help to increase the efficiency of disseminating information to seniors and enhance their abilities to adopting healthier lifestyles. A random sample was used in the study and data collected in 2012. Participants were categorized into two groups, 60 to 67 years and 68 years or older. Data analysis was performed with ANOVA (one-way). The difference across the age groups was in most cases not significant. Both groups rarely sought digital information and considered the quality of it to be low. The results indicate that the older population can be reached with information about healthy living through professional health websites. Libraries and information professionals have the possibility and the means to take a leadership role and work together with health authorities at improving and stimulating senior’s use of digital health information.

Keywords

• digital health information
• healthy lifestyle
• information reliability
• information seeking
• information usefulness
• senior citizens
• Iceland