Seeking Online Health-Related Information by German Seniors: A Qualitative Study

 The internet has become one of the most common informative media for health-related issues. Regarding older people, more research is needed to collect in-depth data on Internet use for health information. The present study aimed to provide an overview on health-related internet use by seniors in Germany.

 This descriptive-analytical qualitative study was conducted on 10 German seniors aged 65-83 years. In order to obtain the required information, in-depth semi-structured interview was carried out between March-June 2017. The target population were recruited using snowball sampling strategy. The transcribed interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

 The findings of the study revealed that seniors’ activity on the Internet include a variety of medical interests. Most of the interviewees access specific medical websites directly, without using search engines. Although about half of the respondents seemed to become online health information overload, most of them made claims about the ability to evaluate its reliability.

 For most of the interviewees the health-related information on the Internet provides a basis of knowledge. Despite the fact that the seniors consider online information useful to make health-related decisions, most of them prefer to consult at least one doctor, still adhering to the physician-centred care model.