A Nurse's Eye-View on Health Literacy in Older Adults.

Older adults are being asked to play a more active role in the management of their health, however low health literacy is pervasive in this population and is a major impediment to participation in healthcare activities. We sought to identify literacy-related challenges that older adults experience while managing their health. We interviewed 8 nurses who provided direct care to older adult populations.

A framework for characterizing eHealth literacy demands and barriers.

Background: Consumer eHealth interventions are of a growing importance in the individual management of health and health behaviors. However, a range of access, resources, and skills barriers prevent health care consumers from fully engaging in and benefiting from the spectrum of eHealth interventions. Consumers may engage in a range of eHealth tasks, such as participating in health discussion forums and entering information into a personal health record.

A technology selection framework for supporting delivery of patient-oriented health interventions in developing countries.

Health information technologies (HIT) have great potential to advance health care globally. In particular, HIT can provide innovative approaches and methodologies to overcome the range of access and resource barriers specific to developing countries. However, there is a paucity of models and empirical evidence informing the technology selection process in these settings.

Mobile phones as mediators of health behavior change in cardiovascular disease in developing countries.

The global burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is becoming a growing problem in developing countries. Successful self-management of CVD is dependent on a multitude of factors, including social support, communication with health care providers, careful monitoring, and other determinants. The growing market penetration and the communication properties of mobile phones create opportunities for innovation in promoting CVD self-management through support of lifestyle and behavior modification.

A taxonomy characterizing complexity of consumer eHealth Literacy.

There are a range of barriers precluding patients from fully engaging in and benefiting from the spectrum of eHealth interventions developed to support patient access to health information, disease self-management efforts, and patient-provider communication. Consumers with low eHealth literacy skills often stand to gain the greatest benefit from the use of eHealth tools. eHealth skills are comprised of reading/writing/numeracy skills, health literacy, computer literacy, information literacy, media literacy, and scientific literacy [1].