Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany
Objective Rapid digitisation of health occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. In October 2020, we conducted a survey on digital health technology use in Germany. This study aimed to conduct a second survey to investigate in more detail the internet use in health context and digital technol...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241301457 |
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| author | Karina Karolina De Santis Saskia Muellmann Chen-Chia Pan Stephanie Hoffmann Jacob Spallek Ulrike Haug Hajo Zeeb |
| author_facet | Karina Karolina De Santis Saskia Muellmann Chen-Chia Pan Stephanie Hoffmann Jacob Spallek Ulrike Haug Hajo Zeeb |
| author_sort | Karina Karolina De Santis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective Rapid digitisation of health occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. In October 2020, we conducted a survey on digital health technology use in Germany. This study aimed to conduct a second survey to investigate in more detail the internet use in health context and digital technology use for health promotion and disease prevention in Germany. Methods A cross-sectional, nationwide telephone survey was conducted in November 2022. Anonymous data on internet and digital technology use, digital health literacy, and sociodemographic characteristics were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regressions. Results The 1020 participants were aged 18–92 years, 53% were male, 62% completed primary or secondary education, 71% resided in large cities, and 45% reported a country-average net household income. Overall, 61% reported internet use in health context via 1–4 devices. Among those, more than 50% used the internet and apps to obtain general health information and less than 50% used digital technologies for physical activity promotion or cancer prevention. Overall, 34% were confident in using the internet for health decisions and 71% preferred to receive health information non-digitally (e.g. on paper). Internet, app, and digital technology use were associated with higher digital health literacy and income, and residence in larger cities. Digital technologies were used for physical activity promotion by younger and for cancer prevention by older participants. Conclusion The internet and digital technologies were predominantly used to obtain health information, but less often for health promotion and disease prevention in 2022 in Germany. While health app and digital technology use for physical activity promotion increased, the confidence in using online information for health decisions decreased in 2022 relative to 2020. Factors that promote confidence in online health information and digital technology use for health promotion and disease prevention need to be investigated in future studies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f2bcfaec2dfb42c1b8c7fe90a89e264d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2055-2076 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-f2bcfaec2dfb42c1b8c7fe90a89e264d2024-11-25T15:04:11ZengSAGE PublishingDigital Health2055-20762024-11-011010.1177/20552076241301457Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in GermanyKarina Karolina De Santis0Saskia Muellmann1Chen-Chia Pan2Stephanie Hoffmann3Jacob Spallek4Ulrike Haug5Hajo Zeeb6 Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen, Bremen, Germany Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen, Bremen, Germany Department of Epidemiological Methods and Etiological Research, , Bremen, Germany Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health, , Senftenberg, Germany Lausitz Center for Digital Public Health, , Senftenberg, Germany Department of Clinical Epidemiology, , Bremen, Germany Faculty of Human and Health Sciences, , Bremen, GermanyObjective Rapid digitisation of health occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. In October 2020, we conducted a survey on digital health technology use in Germany. This study aimed to conduct a second survey to investigate in more detail the internet use in health context and digital technology use for health promotion and disease prevention in Germany. Methods A cross-sectional, nationwide telephone survey was conducted in November 2022. Anonymous data on internet and digital technology use, digital health literacy, and sociodemographic characteristics were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regressions. Results The 1020 participants were aged 18–92 years, 53% were male, 62% completed primary or secondary education, 71% resided in large cities, and 45% reported a country-average net household income. Overall, 61% reported internet use in health context via 1–4 devices. Among those, more than 50% used the internet and apps to obtain general health information and less than 50% used digital technologies for physical activity promotion or cancer prevention. Overall, 34% were confident in using the internet for health decisions and 71% preferred to receive health information non-digitally (e.g. on paper). Internet, app, and digital technology use were associated with higher digital health literacy and income, and residence in larger cities. Digital technologies were used for physical activity promotion by younger and for cancer prevention by older participants. Conclusion The internet and digital technologies were predominantly used to obtain health information, but less often for health promotion and disease prevention in 2022 in Germany. While health app and digital technology use for physical activity promotion increased, the confidence in using online information for health decisions decreased in 2022 relative to 2020. Factors that promote confidence in online health information and digital technology use for health promotion and disease prevention need to be investigated in future studies.https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241301457 |
| spellingShingle | Karina Karolina De Santis Saskia Muellmann Chen-Chia Pan Stephanie Hoffmann Jacob Spallek Ulrike Haug Hajo Zeeb Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany Digital Health |
| title | Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany |
| title_full | Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany |
| title_fullStr | Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany |
| title_short | Digitisation and health: Second nationwide survey of internet users in Germany |
| title_sort | digitisation and health second nationwide survey of internet users in germany |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241301457 |
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