Predictors of Reported Internet Use in Older Adults with High and Low Health Literacy: The Role of Socio-Demographics and Visual and Cognitive Function

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the role of health literacy and visual and cognitive function in the self-reported Internet use of two demographically distinct study samples of older adults. Measures of health literacy, vision, cognition, and Internet use were administered (total n = 250). Comparisons by study and by health literacy were made. Hierarchical logistic models were used to evaluate predictors of Internet use by sample and overall. Internet use, and predictors thereof, differed by sample. The sample with lower levels of income, education, and health literacy rarely used the Internet; cognition alone predicted Internet use. In contrast, Internet use in the sample with higher levels of income, education, and health literacy was predicted by vision and cognition. The influence of health literacy, vision, and cognition on Internet use may vary as a function of socio-demographic characteristics and may represent important considerations in addressing older adults’ barriers to Internet use.

KEYWORDS. :

• Aging
• cognition
• health literacy
• Internet
• technology
• vision
• web