Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 15, 2020
Date Accepted: Oct 26, 2020
Perceived Impact of an Online Community Care Platform for Dutch Older Adults on Local Participation, Informal Caregiving and Feelings of Connectedness: Observational Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
In a changing ageing society where older adults are increasingly expected to take care of themselves instead of relying on healthcare services, Online Community Care (OCC) platforms can help older adults to meet these expectations. A considerable number of these OCC platforms have been introduced in several European countries based on their potential. However, their actual impact is unclear.
Objective:
The current study explored the self-reported use, expectations and perceived impact among older adults of a Dutch Online Community Care (OCC) platform called Grubbenvorst-Online (GO). The following two questions were studied: 1) What is the self-reported use of GO among older adults? 2) What are their expectations and perceived impact of GO regarding local participation, their social network, mutual informal caregiving and feelings of connectedness?
Methods:
An observational pre-post-test study was conducted. Participants were recruited via an online message on the GO platform and data was collected via postal questionnaires among older users at the start of the study and 4 months later. Data regarding the expectations and the perceived impact of GO was compared and tested.
Results:
Forty seven GO users with an average age of 74 years participated. They were healthy and energetic, predominantly 'Internet-skilled' and found the Internet important for maintaining social contacts. In general the use of the OCC platform decreased during the 4 months follow-up period. The perceived impact of GO was significantly lower than expected regarding information provision, seeking help from fellow villagers, giving help to fellow villagers and consulting care-or welfare services.
Conclusions:
The results indicate that OCC platforms perhaps do not provide enough ‘added value’ in their current form. We suggest a new direction in which OCC platforms primarily support existing offline initiatives aimed at stimulating local participation, informal caregiving and feelings of connectedness.
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