Trust in Health Information Sources Differs between Young/Middle and Oldest Old

• Published in: American journal of health promotion Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 239 - 241
• Main Authors: Le, Thai, Chaudhuri, Shomir, White, Cathy, Thompson, Hilaire, Demiris, George
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.03.2014
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Consumer Health Information; Cross-Sectional Studies; Fishermen; Health information; Homes for the Aged; Humans; Information Seeking Behavior; Internet; Logistic Models; Response rate; Surveys and Questionnaires; Television; Trust; Very old; Information Seeking Behavior; Prevention Research; Outcome measure: cognitive, behavioral; Target population: seniors; Manuscript format research; Health focus: intellectual health, medical self-care, social health; Health Promotion; Research purpose: descriptive, instrument development; Setting: local community, clinical health care; Target population circumstances: education/income level, race/ethnicity; Aged; Strategy: education, culture change, behavior change; Study design: nonexperimental
• ISSN: 0890-1171; 2168-6602; 2168-6602
• DOI: 10.4278/ajhp.120921-ARB-459

Purpose. Examine differences in trust of health information sources between the oldest old and young/middle old. Design. Cross-sectional survey using convenience sampling. Setting. Eleven retirement communities. Subjects. Older adults ≥ 65 years (N = 353). Measures. Self rated trust in health information sources. Analysis. Mann-Whitney U-test or Fisher exact test to compare trust between age groups; multinomial ordered logistic regression analyses to model trust in Internet information sources. Results. The overall survey response rate was 26.6%. Differences in trust were identified between oldest old (n = 108) and young/middle old (n = 245) for pharmacist (p < .05), Internet (p < .001), television (p < .05), radio (p < .001), and newspaper (p < .05) sources. In the oldest old, we found associations between levels of trust in Internet sources and frequency of Internet use (β = 4.13, p < .001). Conclusion. Understanding where differences in trust arise can inform the design of resources to support the information-seeking process. When planning widespread distribution of health information to these distinct groups, program developers need to consider these differences.