Paper
Friday, July 23, 2004
Health@Home: Family Structure, Technology and Home Health Information Management
Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, FAAN, FACMI and Yichuan (Grace) Hsieh, MS. School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| Learning Objective #1: Identify critical dimensions necessary to appraise home health information management behaviors of lay people |
| Learning Objective #2: Appraise critically the relationship among family structure, technology and health information management behaviors of lay people |
*Objective: Consumer health informatics innovation may be best accepted when the support and extend existing home health information management behaviors. We interviewed 49 self-identified individuals who were the primary health information manager in their homes. We explored household composition, the types and diversity of health information managed in the home, and strategies employed for the storage and retrieval of health information management. * Design and method: This study employed a non-experimental survey method applied during home visits and community interviews. * Setting, Sample: The population included home-dwelling adult volunteers recruited in a rural two-county area through a variety of means including advertisement, snowball sampling and referral. Twenty-one households consisted of at least one adult and one child; twenty-eight households included only adults (including seniors). * Concept: Home health information management is a behavior engaged in by one or more family members to store and make available for retrieval health information related to clinician contacts, advice for self-care and disease management, and logistics such as clinic appointments and insurances. * Findings: One-third of the respondents managed health information alone. Respondents managed 8-10 different types of health information (treatments, medication protocols, clinic contacts) from 6-7 different sources (clinicians, news media, family & friends). Twenty-nine households had in-home computers. Households with children managed factual health records such as immunizations, and were more likely than adult-only households to have computers. Respondents from households with computers were more likely to use public libraries and less likely to consult with family members and friends for health information. Information storage and retrieval strategies varied depending on the need for on-going reminders and the urgency with which information might be needed. * Conclusions: Home health information management strategies vary with family composition. * Implications: Consumer health informatics innovations must address family structures and home health information management behaviors.
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