PATIENT EMPOWERMENT IN THE INTERNET ERA: THE ROLE OF E-HEALTH LITERACY

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the relationships between the use of the Internet for health purposes and patient empowerment, using e-health literacy as a mediator variable. Recent research shows that the Internet contributed to amplifying the need of people to be aware, informed, updated on topics related to health. During the last decade, psycho-physical well-being has become a priority topic for online research, which is the first source of information in case of an illness or disorder. The possibility of finding information online made patients increasingly informed and active “protagonists” of their health management. However, the effects of this new attitude on the empowerment improvements depends on the individual’s ability to select and use the information collected on the Internet in ways appropriate for health. Low levels of this ability can have adverse health consequences, such as wrong self-diagnoses, misuse of medicines, less tendency to seek medical attention. This work is based on an empirical investigation involving 107 people in Italy. Collected data have been analyzed with the method of multiple regression analysis. The results show that the use of the Internet positively influences patient empowerment in those individuals showing high levels of e-health literacy. In fact, in the absence of the ability to search, evaluate and understand health-related information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge acquired to make appropriate health decisions, the effects of the Internet on patient empowerment are limited. This work contributes to the existing knowledge by adopting a psychological perspective for the analysis of the relationships between the Internet and empowerment. This research provides relevant implications for health organizations, suggesting to them to invest more resources in the people’s education in order to improve their empowerment.