JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

People with cognitive impairment are a significant part of our society and will be in future. In order to support the health literacy of those affected and to ensure that health information is delivered in an appropriate way, it is important to understand the importance that people with cognitive impairment attach to different sources of health information.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to analyze the relevance of different sources of health information from the perspective of people with cognitive impairment, while also evaluating differences based on gender and disease progression.

Methods:

This study is part of the project ‘Digital Dementia Registry Bavaria – digiDEM Bayern’. digiDEM is a multicenter, prospective, longitudinal register study in Bavaria, Germany. People with cognitive impairment rated several information sources by using Likert Scales with the values unimportant (1) to very important (5). Data was analyzed descriptively and using two-sample t-tests to evaluate differences by cognitive status and gender.

Results:

Data of 924 people with cognitive impairment (531 with dementia, 393 with MCI) was evaluated. The most relevant health information sources were “Personal visit with medical professional” (M=3.89 (1.13)) and “Family / Friends” (M=3.88 (1.24)). “Internet” was one of the two lowest-rated information sources by people with cognitive impairment (M=1.6 (1.14)) with nearly three-quarters (684/924, 74%) of the participants rating the source as unimportant. There were several significant differences between people with MCI and dementia with the former group valuing most sources higher, e.g. „Internet“ (MD=0.59; t640=7.52; P<.001). Gender-specific analyses showed women with cognitive impairment valuing every evaluated source higher than men apart from “Internet” (MD=0.39; t685=4.97; P<.001).

Conclusions:

The best way to communicate health information to people with cognitive impairment is through interpersonal contact with medical professionals and their friends and family. Slight changes in valuation as the medical condition progresses and by gender must be considered. Further research is needed to capture potential changes in the valuation of the internet as health information source.