The internet has created new possibilities for individuals to assume a morepronounced role in their own healthcare. This paper reports results from a study thatexamined the perceptions of older people of usability and trust in Internet healthinformation. Information was also gathered on their ability to search for healthinformation. Participants included 64 adults aged 60-82 years who were asked toanswer health-related queries using websites that varied in usability. They were alsoasked to provide ratings of usability and of their trust in Internet health information.The results indicated that performance was lower for the "low usability" websites.Participants also rated these websites as having poorer layout, being harder tonavigate, less useful and less understandable. The majority of the sample indicatedthat they would use the internet to find health information. These findings underscorethe importance of considering usability issues when designing e-health applications.
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