A theoretical framework based on several information processing, media use, and channel complementarity theories that suggests that macro-level disparities in social structures are manifested in individual-level differences in motivation and ability, thus connecting the broader structures in social systems with the micro-level contexts within which these structures constrain and enable human agency.
Published in Chapter:
The Integrative Model of E-Health Use
Graham D. Bodie (Louisiana State University, USA), Mohan J. Dutta (Purdue University, USA), and Ambar Basu (University of South Florida, USA)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 13
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-002-8.ch006
Abstract
This chapter overviews an integrative model of e-health use that connects social disparities at the population level with individual characteristics related to the amount and type of online health information usage, thus providing an account of the ways in which societal disparities play out in individual e-health usage patterns. Based on an overview of the literature on e-health disparities, we suggest that sociallevel disparities are manifested in the form of individual-level differences in health information orientation and health information efficacy, which in turn influence the amount and type of online health use. Exploring the underlying social structures that enable individual-level access, motivation, and ability to utilize the Internet for health and how these structures interact with individual motivation and ability advances our understanding of the Internet, the digital divide, and health disparities.