JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The role of sufficient vision in self-management is salient with respect to the growing prevalence of electronic health (eHealth)-based interventions for chronic disease self-management. However, the relationship between insufficient vision and self-management has been understudied.

Objective:

We aimed to assess differences in access to and utilization of technology among adults with and without insufficient vision at an academic, urban hospital.

Methods:

Observational study of hospitalized, adult, general medicine patients. Descriptive statistics, bivariate chi-squared analyses, and multivariate logistic regressions (adjusted for age, race, gender, education level and eHealth literacy) were performed using STATA version 15 (StataCorp).

Results:

Among 59 participants, the mean age was 54±16.4 years, most identified as Black (81%) and female (58%) and most reported at least some college education (68%). Most participants owned technology devices (97%) and had previously used the internet (86%). Those with insufficient vision (n=34; versus sufficient vision, n=25) were less likely to report an ability to perform online tasks without assistance, including using a search engine (65% vs 92%, p=0.02), opening an attachment (50% vs 88%, p=0.002), and using an online video (59% vs 88%, p=0.01). In multivariate analysis, the ability to independently open an online attachment remained statistically significant (p=0.04)

Conclusions:

Technology device ownership and internet usage rates are high in this population, yet participants with insufficient vision (vs. sufficient vision) reported reduced ability to independently perform online tasks. To ensure effective utilization of eHealth technologies by at-risk populations, the relationship between vision and technology usage needs to be further studied. Clinical Trial: N/A