Comparing information needs of health care providers and older adults: findings from a wellness study

Consumer health informatics technologies have the potential to enhance shared decision-making and communication between older adults, health care providers, and other stakeholders. The objective of this study was to characterize the information needs of these stakeholders to inform the design of informatics tools that support wellness in older adults. We conducted four focus groups with 31 older adults and three focus groups with 10 health care providers to explore information needs, goals, and preferences for information sharing. Analysis of focus group transcripts was performed to identify and compare themes for different stakeholders. We identified four themes related to information activities: perceived goals of others, perceived information needs of others, information sharing by older adults, and role of family members. Older adults, family members and health care providers differ in their information needs. We provide recommendations to facilitate design and adoption of informatics tools that connect these stakeholders. Larger studies are needed to characterize different stakeholder goals, information needs and preferences.