Harden Samantha M, Murphy Anna, Ratliff Kathryn, Balis Laura E
Physical Activity Research and Community Implementation Laboratory, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States.
Physical Activity Research and Community Implementation Laboratory, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2022 Jan 13;6(1):e29153. doi: 10.2196/29153.
Older adults seek health-related information through casual internet searches. Yet, researchers focus on peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations as primary dissemination strategies. Representatives of mass media are alerted (passive diffusion) of new studies or recommendations, but the veracity of the information shared is not often analyzed, and when it is, the analysis is often not comprehensive. However, most older adults do not have access to peer-reviewed journal articles or paid subscription services for more reputable media outlets.
We aimed to determine what information was readily available (ie, open access) to older adults who may casually search the internet for physical activity recommendations.
We performed a 6-part scoping review to determine the research question and available evidence, and extract data within open-access top hits using popular online search engines. Results were categorized by a dissemination model that has categories of sources, channels, audience, and messages.
After the iterative search process, 92 unique articles were included and coded. Only 5 (5%) cited physical activity guidelines, and most were coded as promoting healthy aging (82/92, 89%) and positive framing (84/92, 91%). Most articles were posed as educational, but the authors' credentials were rarely reported (ie, 22% of the time). Muscle strengthening and balance components of the physical activity guidelines for older adults were rarely reported (72/92, 78% and 80/92, 87%, respectively) or inaccurately reported (3/92, 3% and 3/92, 3%, respectively).
Inconsistent messages lead to mistrust of science and public health representatives. This work highlights the lack of evidence within existing open-access resources. Further efforts are needed to ensure evidence-based public health messages are in the sources and channels older adults are using to inform their knowledge and behaviors.
老年人通过随意的网络搜索来获取与健康相关的信息。然而，研究人员将同行评审期刊和会议报告作为主要的传播策略。大众媒体代表会收到新研究或建议的通报（被动传播），但所分享信息的真实性往往未经分析，即便进行分析，也往往不够全面。然而，大多数老年人无法获取同行评审期刊文章或付费订阅更具声誉媒体的服务。
我们旨在确定那些可能会随意在网上搜索体育活动建议的老年人能够轻易获取到哪些信息（即开放获取信息）。
我们进行了一项分为六个部分的范围综述，以确定研究问题和现有证据，并使用流行的在线搜索引擎在开放获取的热门搜索结果中提取数据。结果按照一种传播模型进行分类，该模型包括来源、渠道、受众和信息类别。
经过迭代搜索过程，共纳入并编码了92篇独特的文章。只有5篇（5%）引用了体育活动指南，且大多数文章被编码为促进健康老龄化（82/92，89%）和正面表述（84/92，91%）。大多数文章以教育为目的，但很少报告作者的资质（即22%的情况）。老年人体育活动指南中的肌肉强化和平衡部分很少被提及（分别为72/92，78%和80/92，87%）或被错误报告（分别为3/92，3%和3/92，3%）。
信息不一致导致对科学和公共卫生代表的不信任。这项工作凸显了现有开放获取资源中缺乏证据。需要进一步努力，以确保基于证据的公共卫生信息出现在老年人用于获取知识和指导行为的来源和渠道中。
