healthy aging for the older adult - age...

HEALTHY AGING FOR THE OLDER

ADULT - AGE 65+

» The population of Americans aged 65 and above is one of the fastest growing

populations in the U.S. and is expected to double in the next three decades

(Perez, & Luquis, 2008, p. 202).

» It has been projected that due to the baby boomer aging, one in five people in

America will be 65 years old or older by 2030 (Federal Interagency Forum on

Aging-Related Statistics, 2006 in Perez, & Luquis, 2008, p. 205). Approximately

one in every three older adults has one or more chronic conditions affecting his or

her ability to function (Lang, Moore, Harris, & Anderson, 2005 in Perez, & Luquis,

2008, p. 208).

» The long-term impact of diseases on functional status and on costs is greater in

older people than in any other age group (Bustacchini et al., 2009). There should

be emphasis on moving beyond maintenance of function towards improvement of

independence, quality of life, health promotion and involvement of older people in

the design and implementation of their health care plans (Batty, 2010).

» In order to accomplish improvement in health of the older adults, the older adults,

their families, communities, heath providers and health educators should be

equipped with adequate knowledge and information regarding ways to improve

the health of the older adults through disease management, prevention of

diseases and injuries, and promotion of health. One of the most important ways to

acquire this knowledge, in the age of technology, is through the internet.

» The following are list of websites that contain information that will meet these

health information needs of the older adults, their families, communities, heath

providers, and health educators.

» Search terms: Aging, senior health, Alzheimer’s, elderly,

longevity, CDC, NIH, chronic diseases, disabilities, retired, wellness,

disease prevention.

» Search engines/databases: Google, Yahoo!, Medline

Plus, Ask.com, CINAHL database.

»

Web site evaluation tool: Schrock, K. (2002). The ABC's

of Web Site Evaluation. In Teaching Media Literacy in the Age of the

Internet.

» Website Evaluation Criteria: » Accessibility/availability

» Authority and Authorship

» Content

» Currency

» Design/Jerry-built

» Navigability

» Bias

http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/pdf/weval_02.pdf


» Rationales for ranking:

» Sites should address the health needs for:

1. Older adult consumers

2. Families

3. Communities

4. Healthcare providers.

5. Health Educators

» Ranking:

» lowest score = 0, highest score =10.

» 0 to two points for each of the 5 criteria for ranking (above)

depending on the degree to which the particular criterion is

met.

» For example a site that provides high degree of information

addressing health needs of health providers will get 2 points

for that criterion, 1 point for basic information, and 0 point for

no information. The minimum total ranking score is Zero (0)

and maximum total ranking score is 10.

» 1. URL: http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aging/ Name of the site: Net Wellness

» Sponsoring agency/individual: NetWellness is a non-profit consumer health web site owned by association of three universities: Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, and University of Cincinnati.

» Brief overview of the site: The site deals with numerous health topics for every age group. By clicking on “Health topics” at top of page, one is introduced to numerous topics from web site of one of the 3 universities associated with this site. It has a special site for seniors called the senior center which has a list of health topics for the seniors to get information from. It has a section for “ask the experts” where someone can type in question and expect answers from an expert in a short time. There are many information that pertains to the older adult population such as “fall prevention”.

» Accessibility/availability: Easily accessible; no registration required to browse through the information.

» Authority and Authorship: Information on the site is created and evaluated by medical and health professional faculty at the Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, and University of Cincinnati.

» Content: Very clear and easy to understand.

» Currency: 2010.

» Design/built: The site has a good design.

» Navigability: The site is easy to navigate.

» Bias: No obvious bias is detected on the site.

» Recommendation: I recommend this site to older adults, health professional/educators; seniors; anyone related to seniors and also to caregivers.

» Rank: 9 for addressing health needs for older adult consumers, families, communities, healthcare providers, and health educators.

» 2. URL: http://www.cdc.gov/aging/ Name of the site: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Healthy Aging

» Sponsoring agency/individual: CDC

» Brief overview of the site: This is the part of the CDC website that deals with issues concerning healthy aging. The site has links to numerous topics that will be of interest to the older adult population such as health information for older adults, mental health and aging, emergency preparedness and aging; caregiving and numerous resources for the older adults within the country.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary. There are no pop up ads. The site does not require registration.

» Authority and Authorship: There is no particular author identified for this site but many resources linked to the site such as articles have authors displayed with the articles. CDC.gov is a government agency that is known for relying on experts and their works for providing users of its website with credible, reliable health information on: Data and Statistics, Diseases and Conditions, Emergencies and Disasters, Environmental Health, Healthy Living, Injury, Violence and Safety, Life Stages and Populations, Travelers' Health, Workplace Safety, and Health, and much more.

» Content: The content is clear and understandable.

» Currency: Last updated August 17, 2010.

» Design/Jerry-built: The site is simple in design, and very clear.

» Navigability: The site is well organized and easy to navigate. It displays well in Internet Explorer. The site is searchable by topics and no instructions are needed to do so. The site is consistently available and visually appealing. The site loads within an appropriate amount of time. There are no error messages displayed.

» Bias: There is no bias in this site as the topics are mainly about health and no politics.

» Recommendation: I will recommend this site to older adult population; caregivers, health professionals and anyone that needs information on the older adult health and other health related topics.


» 3. URL: http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Seniors/Health.shtml Name of the site: USA.gov: Health for Seniors

» Sponsoring agency/individual: Site is sponsored by USA.gov, U.S. General Services Administration, and Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.

» Brief overview of the site: This site is a part of the bigger USA.gov site that deals with health issues for seniors. It displays links for topics of interest such as “Disease conditions and Injuries Affecting seniors”, “Doctors and healthcare facilities for seniors”, “Elder abuse and Neglect”, “Medicare and Medicaid”, “Prescription drugs”, “Staying healthy as a senior”, and much more. It has links to information on government agencies, the government, and government officials. There is a provision for site to be displayed in Spanish language.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary. There are no pop up ads. The site does not require registration.

» Authority and Authorship: No particular author is displayed on site. USA.gov is U.S. government's official web portal, but as a government web site, the editors of the site will have to be associated with U. S. government.

» Content: The content is clear and easily understandable

» Currency: Last updated October 28 2010.



» Bias: No obvious bias on site concerning the health topics.

» Recommendation: I recommend this site as a reliable site for information on displayed topics as well as for many government agencies and information concerning seniors and other issues of interest to American citizens.


» 4. URL: http://www.aarp.org/health/ Name of the site: AARP: Health

» Sponsoring agency/individual: This site is sponsored by AARP. AARP is a nonprofit, membership organization with the objective to help people who are 50 and over improve the quality of their lives. It is a social welfare organization, as well as, the nation’s largest membership organization for people 50+

» Brief overview of the site: The site displays links to health topics such as conditions and treatments, fitness, Drugs and supplements, Experts, Medicare & Insurance, Brain health, and much more. It is also a news-site and displays many current news topics such as the death of Elizabeth Edward. It also displays many health related articles.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary to get into the site. The site does not require registration but there are numerous areas that link to registration to become a member of AARP. There is occasional pop up ads mainly for becoming an AARP member.

» Authority and Authorship: No particular author displayed on site but each article has the name of the author/s displayed on the article.

» Content: The content is clear and easily understandable.

» Currency: As news-site, it is updated daily and last update was today December 9, 2010.



» Bias: Part of the objective of this site is to attract members to AARP which could sometimes have a political opinion on certain topics. The site has no bias when it comes to topics on health.

» Recommendation: I recommend this site as a reliable site for news and health topics for seniors. It is not necessarily of great use for health professionals as it does not deal with health topics at the level that may benefit most health professionals.

» Rank: 5 for addressing health needs for older adult consumers, families, communities.

» 5. URL: http://www.nia.nih.gov/

Name of the site: National Institute on Aging

» Sponsoring agency/individual: National Institute on Aging /U. S. National Institute of

Health (NIH)

» Brief overview of the site: The site has many links to topics of interest under health,

research, grants and training, news and events, videos and much more.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are

necessary to get into the site. The site does not require registration.

» Authority and Authorship: Institute on Aging (NIA) is one of the 27 Institutes and Centers

of NIH. NIH is a government agency that provides leadership and direction to programs

designed to improve the health of the Nation by conducting and supporting research in

areas such as the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of human diseases etc. This

background gives credibility to the information on the site.

» Content: The content is clear and easily understandable

» Currency: Different sections are updated differently. The section on NIH Senior health

(http://nihseniorhealth.gov/) was last updated in July 12, 2010.

» Design/Jerry-built: The site is simple in design, and very clear. The links are clear and

takes one to desired area of interest.

» Navigability: The site is well organized and easy to navigate. It displays well in Internet

Explorer. The site is searchable by topics and no instructions are needed to do so. The

site is consistently available and visually appealing. The site loads within an appropriate

amount of time. There are no error messages displayed.

» Bias: There is no bias detected as topics are mainly health related.

» Recommendation: I will recommend this site as the topics are easy to understand and

for available videos on numerous health topics for those who prefer audio/visual

information. Health professionals will benefit from this site.

» Rank: 9 for addressing health needs for older adult consumers, families, communities,

healthcare providers, and health educators.

» 6. URL: http://www.medscape.com/medscapetoday Name of the site: Medscape Today from WebMD

» Sponsoring agency/individual: Medscape from WebMD is a part of WebMD Health Professional Network that includes theHeart.org and eMedicine.com. Their mission statement is to provide clinicians and other healthcare professionals with the most timely comprehensive and relevant clinical information to improve patient care; to make the clinician's task of information gathering simpler, more fruitful, and less time-consuming; and to provide physicians with the educational tools needed to stay current in their practice.

» Brief overview of the site: Site has links to numerous health topics and blogs of interest such as “Healthy communities Promote Healthy Minds and Bodies”

» Accessibility/availability: Site is not easily accessible without registration. However registration is free and one has to always remember his or her username and password to log in. After one logs in, there are numerous health topics to benefit the healthcare professional. There are numerous topics on aging as well that will be of interest to older adults.

» Authority and Authorship: Specialty content is evaluated, created, and presented under the guidance of a WebMD program director and a medical professional advisory board.

» Content: The site is clear but designed with highly professional approach

» Currency: Different subject and links have different posting dates. Many topics are as current as present day.

» Design/Jerry-built: The site is simple in design, and very clear. The links are clear and takes one to desired area of interest

» Navigability: After passing the registration/login aspect of this site, the site is well organized and easy to navigate. It displays well in Internet Explorer. The site is searchable by topics and no instructions are needed to do so. The site is consistently available and visually appealing. The site loads within an appropriate amount of time. There are no error messages displayed

» Bias: No bias

» Recommendation: I will recommend this site for health professionals; educated seniors who have ability to understand the level of material displayed. It is a reliable source to get information on any health condition affecting the older adult.


» 7. URL: http://www.alzprevention.org/index.php Name of the site: ALZHEIMER’S PREVENTION: A Web Site of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America

» Sponsoring agency/individual: The site is sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA). Their mission is “to provide optimal care and services to individuals confronting dementia, and to their caregivers and families—through member organizations dedicated to improving quality of life.”

» Brief overview of the site: The site has several links to materials and consumer publications which include brochures on a variety of topics, such as successful aging, caregiving strategies and young-onset dementia, and care Advantage, a free quarterly magazine for caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease and related illnesses. Some materials are available in both English and Spanish.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary to get into the site. The site does not require registration but there is a provision for registration which is optional.

» Authority and Authorship: The site has a list of experts in psychiatry, neurology, neuro-therapeutics etc. in their medical advisory board. The topics are treated in a very basic manner and do not have any particular author displayed.

» Content: Simple and easy to understand.

» Currency: no particular posting date or date of update displayed on site but the copyright information at bottom of page shows 2010.

» Design/Jerry-built: The site is simple in design, and very clear. The links are clear and takes one to desired area of interest.


» Bias: No obvious bias detected but as an organization, views of the organization are expressed in many aspects of the site.

» Recommendation: Many older adults are affected by Alzheimer’s disease so I will recommend this site to those who are interested in getting information on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but more importantly for those who need information on the AFA organizations, branches, and how to support the organization.

» Rank: 5 for basic information addressing health needs for older adult consumers, families, communities, healthcare providers, and health educators.

http://www.afacareadvantage.org/

» 8. URL: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ Name of the site: Medline Plus: Trusted Health Information for You

» Sponsoring agency/individual: Medline Plus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the National Library of Medicine, it presents information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in languages such as English and Spanish.

» Brief overview of the site: the site has a search box where someone can type in any topic of interest to begin their search. On the left of the Medline search box is the word “ESPANOL” which is an option that one can click on to change the language of the site to Spanish. The site displays many topics of interest to older adults such as back pain, COPD, depression, diabetes, etc. There is a broad display for links to numerous health topics, drugs and supplements, and videos. A click on the “health topics” takes the visitor to a page with A-Z for every possible topic beginning with any of the letters; the page also has many common topics displaced for easy identification. These health topics are divided into broader sections that contain the sub topics such as body location/systems, disorders and conditions, diagnosis and therapy, demographic groups, and health and wellness.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary to get into the site. The site does not require registration. One needs to have “Real video” software in their computer in order to access the videos.

» Authority and Authorship: Medline Plus has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on over 800 diseases and conditions.

» Content: Content is clear and easily understandable.

» Currency: Medline Plus is updated daily.


» Navigability: The site is well organized and easy to navigate. It displays well in Internet Explorer. The site is searchable by topics and no instructions are needed to do so. The site is consistently available and visually appealing. The site loads within an appropriate amount of time. There are no error messages displayed

» Bias: no bias; no politics.

» Recommendation: I recommend site for health professional, anyone needing information on any health condition such as patients and their families and friends.


» 9. URL: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-aging/MY00374 Name of the site: MayoClinic.com: Healthy Aging

» Sponsoring agency/individual: Mayo Clinic

» Brief overview of the site: The site boldly displays its 3 main topics of interest which is “Healthy Aging: Over 50”, “Healthy retirement” and “Dependent seniors”. Each link has display of numerous topics related to aging such as “DHEA: Evidence for anti-aging claims is weak”, “Easy bruising: Common as you age”. Clicking on this topics, displayed below, takes the browser to the articles. There are few advertisements for medications on the site.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary to get into the site. The site does not require registration.

» Authority and Authorship: Information on site is controlled by the senior medical editors who are experienced Mayo Clinic clinicians and educators who have broad knowledge of many areas of medicine, occupational health, and disease management and health promotion. This background makes the site reliable in terms of knowledge of subjects being discussed.

» Content: Content is clear and easily understandable

» Currency: Each article has different dates that they are posted, anywhere from 2010 to several years back.

» Design/Jerry-built: The site is simple in design, and very clear. The links are clear and takes one to desired area of interest


» Bias: No bias except that it only deals with aging related topics.

» Recommendation: I will recommend this site to baby boomers/older adults, families and friends


» 10. URL: http://www.myoptumhealth.com/portal/#multiStory1 Name of the site: myOptumumHealth.com

» Sponsoring agency/individual: This site is owned by OptimumHealth, a company based in Golden Valley, Minnesota. OptumHealth is part of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:

» UNH), headquartered in Minneapolis.

» Brief overview of the site: The site has links displayed at top of site for “diseases and conditions”; “tests and procedures”; “drug guide”, “manage my health” and “marketplace”. Pointing the mouse at any of these topics displays a dropdown of topic sub-links for visitors to choose from. There is several display of health topics of interest scattered over the page. There is also an area for advertising products such as drugs.

» Accessibility/availability: The site is easily accessible. No fees or subscriptions are necessary to get into the site. The site does not require registration.

» Authority and Authorship: The different topics are written by medical/health professionals most of whom are staff members of optumumHealth. The site owners report that in order to stay medically accurate and up-to-date, they employ a Medical Advisory Board consisting of some of the top physicians and experts in their fields to review the information put out in this site. Below the site is a display of certificates and awards such as winning Bronze for Web health awards in 2009.

» Content: medical information is easy to read and understand.

» Currency: The site and articles are updated frequently; many of the topics are updated as recently as today.



» Bias: There are no biases except for several advertisements on the site.

» Recommendation: I recommend this site to older adults to check out health topics; it has link to “Now clinic” which is a way to see a doctor online in the comfort of one’s home; only available in Minnesota. The site is also perfect for healthcare professionals and anyone looking for information on health topics, tests, and procedures.


» Conclusion:

These ten sites ranked are adequate in different degrees in

assisting the older adults, their families and friends, the communities,

health providers, and health educators with information needed to

assist the older adults achieve the ultimate health and wellness.

» References » Batty, C. (2010). Systematic review: interventions intended to reduce admission to

hospital of older people. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from CINAHL database

» Bustacchini S,Corsonello A,Onder G,Guffanti EE,Marchegiani F,Abbatecola AM,& Lattanzio F. (2009). Pharmacoeconomics and aging. Drugs and Aging. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from CINAHL database.

» Perez, M.A. & Luquis, R.R. (2008). Cultural competence in health education and health

» promotion. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

» Schrock, K. (2002). The ABC's of Web Site Evaluation. In Teaching Media Literacy in the Age of the Internet. Retrieved from

» http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/pdf/weval_02.pdf.


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