Identifying eHealth literacy and readability issues for palliative care consumers [ 2009 - 2009 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: A/Pr Jennifer Tieman (Principal investigator) ,  Dr Ruth Sladek ,  Prof David Currow ,  Prof Paddy Phillips

Brief description Access and use of health information can affect a patient’s health experience and potentially their health outcomes. Increasingly health information is being provided and sought through the internet and online resources. Palliative care patients and their carers have specific information needs relating to the nature and progress of their disease, their symptoms and their current and pending quality of life. However, their ability to find and use information relies on many factors such as individual skills and experiences and how information is presented and made available. eHealth literacy is a measure of the mix of skills required by consumers to successfully access and understand palliative care information. Readability is one aspect of eHealth literacy and readability scales can be used to identify how effective websites are in providing appropriate written information for palliative care consumers. This research will help assess eHealth literacy levels and hence potential intervention needs of palliative care patients and carers as well as determining whether the readability requirement of palliative care websites and information is too high.

Funding Amount $AUD 29,375.00

Funding Scheme NHMRC Strategic Awards

Notes Palliative Care Research