A. Eguia2, B. Freemyer2, D. Pham2, E. Hamilton2, K. Tsao2, M. Austin1,2 1University Of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center,Houston, TX, USA 2University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston,Houston, TX, USA
Introduction: eHealth is the use of digital information and online communication to improve a person’s health or health care. Previous studies have shown that patients face many barriers when attempting to utilize e-Health including factors related to socioeconomic status, language, age, and education. We hypothesized that barriers exist that significantly impact a parent’s ability to access and feel comfortable with using eHealth.
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study which included 24 non-randomly selected parents of 21 pediatric surgical patients. After obtaining informed consent, semi-structured interviews were conducted in an outpatient clinic by one of two co-authors (AE and BF). The interviews were conducted in each participant’s primary language (11 English and 10 Spanish) and participants were asked about access to eHealth, mechanism(s) of use and challenges faced in accessing and using eHealth. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. English-speaking participants (ESP) and Spanish-speaking participants (SSP) were compared.
Results: All participants, except one SSP, had access to the Internet at home. Compared to SSP, ESP were more likely to use the Internet to learn about their own (73% vs 38%) or their child’s health (80% vs 50%). In both groups, parents who used eHealth were more likely to look up information regarding their child’s health versus their own health. ESP tended to use computers and cell phones, whereas SSP were more likely to use only tablets or cell phones. Challenges to using eHealth for ESP included the vast amount of knowledge available, uncertainty of resource credibility and poor Internet connections. Among SSP, non-Spanish websites, inadequate access and lack of knowledge on how to use the Internet presented challenges to utilizing eHealth. In both groups, most participants viewed the potential for email communication with their child’s physician as positive (85%).
Conclusion: While most parents report access to the Internet, both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking parents face challenges in utilizing eHealth. In this pilot project, we identified several key differences between ESP and SSP. We will use our results to inform content in developing a survey to identify and characterize comfort level and barriers that might hinder a parent’s ability to navigate eHealth. This will lay the foundation for the development of a program that can facilitate patient and parent access to and comfort engaging in eHealth.