Internet connectivity among rural Alabama veterans: baseline findings from the Alabama Veterans Rural Health
R S Allen1, R E Guadagno, P Parmelee
1Center for Mental Health and Aging, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. rsallen@ua.edu
Rural and Remote Health
|January 22, 2013
Summary
Rural veterans show lower internet usage but use it similarly across age groups for health information. Online outreach offers significant potential for the VA Office of Rural Health to connect with this population.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Digital Health
- Rural Health Disparities
Background:
- Rural veterans face reduced healthcare access, contributing to health disparities.
- The Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health (ORH) aims to improve care for geographically isolated veterans.
- Understanding internet usage is key to developing effective outreach for this population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the internet usage patterns of rural veterans.
- To explore the role of the internet in accessing health information and VA services among rural veterans.
- To identify demographic predictors of internet use for health information seeking in rural veterans.
Main Methods:
- Secondary data analysis of 201 rural veterans who had not recently accessed VA services.
- Exploration of internet use for health information and VA services among Caucasian and African American veterans.
- Multivariate logistic regression to analyze predictors of internet use for health information.
Main Results:
- 53.23% of rural veterans reported using the internet or email.
- Neither age nor race/ethnicity predicted internet use for accessing health or VA service information.
- African American veterans were significantly younger than Caucasian veterans.
Conclusions:
- Rural veterans exhibit lower overall internet usage compared to general population norms.
- Age and race/ethnicity did not significantly influence rural veterans' use of the internet for health information.
- Online outreach presents a substantial opportunity for the VA Office of Rural Health to disseminate information and services to rural veterans.
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