E-Health for Older People: The Use of Technology in Health Promotion

摘要

To meet the needs of frail older people and to promote functional longevity, providing healthrneducation and disease prevention to the elderly is important. The present study describes therndevelopment, implementation, and evaluation of an e-health program for older persons. Thernobjective of the 4-week e-health program was to improve elders’ autonomous access to andrnuse of health-related information in the form of physical exercise videography from a government-rnsponsored Web site. The content of the program included participants’ mastery ofrnbasic computing skills and accessing and enhancing participants’ interest in seeking healthrelatedrnknowledge and information via the Internet. Data were collected in weeks 1 (pretest)rnand 4 (posttest) using questionnaires and open-ended questions. Thirty older people participatedrnin the study (9 males, 21 females, aged 65–80 years, with the mean age of 72). Participants’rnmastery of basic computer operating skills increased significantly (p u0002 0.05); they werernable to access health information via the Internet and had gained health-related knowledgernby week 4 posttest (p u0002 0.05). The overall learning experience was positive. In conclusion, therncollaboration of community partners in sponsoring a technology-based e-health programrnwould be an effective way to provide health education to older people.