Allen R S, Guadagno R E, Parmelee P, Minney J A, Hilgeman M M, Tabb K D, McNeil S F, Houston T, Kertesz S, Davis L
Center for Mental Health and Aging, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.
Rural Remote Health. 2013 Apr-Jun;13(2):2138. Epub 2013 Jan 21.
The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to characterize the Internet usage of rural veterans (n=201) who had either never enrolled, or had previously enrolled but not accessed, Veterans Affairs (VA) health services in at least 2 years. The VA Office of Rural Health (ORH)(ie part of the United States Government Department of Veterans Affairs) is a government agency with the mission to improve access and quality of care for enrolled rural and highly rural US veterans. The ORH seeks to use evidence-based policies and innovative practices to support the unique needs of enrolled veterans residing in geographically remote areas. These individuals represent a population considered to experience health disparities secondary to reduced health care access.
This study explored the role of the Internet in providing health information and information regarding VA services to rural Caucasian and African American veterans in the southeastern USA. African Americans were significantly younger (50.32 years, SD=13.50, range 22-85 years) than Caucasian rural veterans (58.50 years, SD=13.82, range 21-85 years).
A small majority of veterans (n=107; 53.23%) reported 'going on-line to use the Internet or World Wide Web, or to send and receive e-mail'. Among Internet users, multivariate logistic regression showed that neither age nor race/ethnicity predicted using the Internet to access health information or information regarding VA services.
In comparison with population norms, rural veterans displayed lower usage of the Internet; however, there were few practical age differences between young, middle-aged and older rural veterans in use of the Internet for seeking health information. These results suggest a tremendous potential for online outreach efforts to rural veterans seeking health information and information regarding VA services and benefits. The US Federal Government's VA Office of Rural Health is investing in technology-based services and will need to disseminate information regarding the availability of these services to rural veterans.
本次二次数据分析的目的是描述农村退伍军人（n = 201）的互联网使用情况，这些退伍军人要么从未登记过退伍军人事务部（VA）的医疗服务，要么之前登记过但至少两年未使用过该服务。农村卫生办公室（ORH）（即美国退伍军人事务部的一部分）是一个政府机构，其使命是改善已登记的美国农村和偏远农村退伍军人获得医疗服务的机会并提高医疗服务质量。ORH寻求采用基于证据的政策和创新做法，以满足居住在地理偏远地区的已登记退伍军人的特殊需求。这些人被认为是由于医疗服务获取减少而经历健康差距的人群。
本研究探讨了互联网在美国东南部农村白人和非裔美国退伍军人获取健康信息及VA服务信息方面所起的作用。非裔美国退伍军人（50.32岁，标准差 = 13.50，年龄范围22 - 85岁）比农村白人退伍军人（58.50岁，标准差 = 13.82，年龄范围21 - 85岁）明显年轻。
一小部分多数退伍军人（n = 107；53.23%）报告“上网使用互联网或万维网，或收发电子邮件”。在互联网用户中，多因素逻辑回归显示，年龄和种族/族裔均不能预测使用互联网获取健康信息或VA服务信息。
与总体标准相比，农村退伍军人的互联网使用率较低；然而，在使用互联网获取健康信息方面，年轻、中年和老年农村退伍军人之间几乎没有实际年龄差异。这些结果表明，对于寻求健康信息及VA服务和福利信息的农村退伍军人而言，在线宣传工作具有巨大潜力。美国联邦政府的VA农村卫生办公室正在投资基于技术的服务，并且需要向农村退伍军人传播有关这些服务可用性的信息。
