Title : Online therapy or face-to-face therapy? Perceptions and preferences of an older adults in Israel
Abstract:
Introduction: Online Health Services (OHS) emerged in the last decade and currently encompass technologies that facilitate patient-practitioner communication in medical fields such as diagnosis, treatment, counselling, and monitoring, including for chronic patients. The current study aims to describe attitudes and behaviours related to OHS and identify variables that explain online technology use.
Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study among Hebrew-speaking, computer-literate older adults, with data collected via online questionnaires. The convenience sample included 700 respondents, of whom 57.4% were female. Respondents’ mean age was 64 years, with most being married (59.3%), secular (75.9%), academically educated (59.1%), and having a chronic illness (65.7%).
Results: Despite high OHS use among nearly half the participants, most were undecided whether they preferred face- to-face or online treatment. Preference for face-to-face treatment was negatively associated with perceived efficiency and safety of online treatment, online health literacy, and extent of OHS use. Key variables explaining OHS use were perceived efficiency and safety of online treatment, online health literacy, preference for face-to-face treatment, and chronic illness. The explained variation of the OHS consumption model was 40.4%.
Discussion and conclusions: The variables explaining OHS use are not necessarily linked to classic background variables, e.g. gender, age, and education, but rather to variables related to the use of OHS for therapeutic purposes. OHS are not perceived as substitutes for face-to-face meetings with healthcare providers but as a supplementary service. Therefore, to enhance OHS use rates, decision-makers should improve online health literacy and design services integrating OHS with face-to-face treatment.
Audience Take Away:
- Nurses have a significant added value in educating patients. Given that online literacy predicts the use of online health services it is suggested that nurses will lead projects related to upgrading the online literacy of patients to increase the extent of use of (OHS).
- Understanding that OHS are supplementary service to face-to-face care can assist nurses and other caregivers in providing personalized care.
- The study design including the research tools, are suitable for use in diverse populations for the purpose of formulating the policy for the use of OHS together with face-to-face care.
