Informal Caregiving in the Digital Age

Abstract

Informal caregiving is an important area of public health and social sciences that highlights the roles of family members and other non-formal caregivers who deliver health and social care to people with health problems. Engaging informal caregivers in health promotion in community settings has shown population health benefits; however, informal caregivers may experience a wide range of biopsychosocial challenges while caring for others. Digital health offers promising benefits to address many such challenges in different populations. Despite such emerging opportunities to leverage digital technologies for health promotion, little is known about the digital health behavior among and available interventions for informal caregivers. This dissertation aimed to address this knowledge gap through three research objectives. First, a scientometric study and systematic umbrella review of the global evidence on digital interventions for informal caregivers was conducted using scholarly data from published literature. Second, the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data was used to examine the predictors of and disparities in online health information-related behavior among informal caregivers in the United States. Lastly, the correlates of perceived usefulness of online medical records among informal caregivers in the United States were evaluated using the same data. Through these overarching objectives, this dissertation aimed to understand critical aspects of digital health behavior, interventions, and health outcomes. Such knowledge may inform future research examining different behavioral aspects, and enable the development of robust evidence-based interventions for promoting health among informal caregivers, people they care for, and populations in general.