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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Carers' perspectives on the internet
— implications for social and health care service provision | | Author(s) | Janet Read, Clare Blackburn |
| Journal title | British Journal of Social Work, vol 35, no 7, October 2005 |
| Pages | pp 1175-1192 |
| Source | http://bjsw.oupjournals.org |
| Keywords | Informal care ; Information technology ; Computers ; Usage [services] ; Cross sectional surveys. |
| Annotation | To date, little is known about carers' experience of using online services and information. Data are reported from the Carers Online national postal survey of 3,014 adult carers and from an assisted access study involving 60 other adults who had been given training and cost-free Internet access at home. Half of the survey respondents reported having used the Internet on at least one occasion for a range of purposes related to both caring and other aspects of their lives. Major barriers to use identified by both users and non-users included lack of access to equipment and the Internet, difficulties with equipment and systems, cost, limitations on time, and lack of interest and skill. 14% of the whole sample said that nothing would encourage them to use the Internet. All of the assisted access group used the Internet for a similarly wide range of purposes. Key benefits identified included convenience, flexibility, sped and range of information available, while problems with equipment and systems and time constraints were major barriers to effective Internet usage. Findings suggest that while direct Internet access has some benefits for some carers, it should currently be only one of a range of ways of meeting their information needs. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051214210 A |
| Classmark | P6: UVB: 3O: QLD: 3KB |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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