In This Story
Key Takeaways
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A new George Mason study finds that nearly half of dementia caregivers report low confidence using digital health resources, even as most regularly use tools like patient portals and telehealth.
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Confidence is higher with simpler, self-directed tools like health and wellness apps, and lower when caregivers must manage digital systems for someone else.
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Lower digital confidence is also linked to lower confidence in managing one’s own health, with implications for caregiver strain and burnout.
Family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are increasingly expected to manage care through a screen. But nearly half of family caregivers lack confidence in their ability to find and use digital health resources, according to new national research from the George Mason University College of Public Health.
Published in SAGE Open Aging, the study stands in contrast to how frequently caregivers now orchestrate care online: logging onto patient portals, scheduling telehealth visits, checking test results, refilling medications, and so on. Yet the findings suggest that regularly seeking health information online does not automatically translate into confidence navigating digital health tools.
“This gap reveals that simply accessing information online does not always equip individuals with the skills or confidence needed to use broader digital health resources,” said nursing professor Kyeung Mi Oh, who led the study. “We saw that some activities appear to build caregivers’ confidence in their digital literacy, while others appear to undermine it.”
Researchers found that tools that are self-directed and easier to navigate, like health and wellness apps, were associated with higher confidence. More complex tasks, particularly those that require managing digital systems on behalf of another person, were linked to lower confidence.
Why this matters
While digital health tools are generally designed to streamline care, the findings suggest that added complexity and responsibility can introduce new hesitations or confusions that chip away at confidence.
The study also points to a broader implication: digital self-efficacy may impact caregivers’ ability to care for themselves.
“We saw that caregivers who feel less confident in their digital literacy are also less confident in their ability to take good care of themselves,” Oh said. “That has significant implications for long-term health and burnout.”
A closer look at the study findings
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Nearly half of dementia caregivers reported low confidence in their ability to find and use helpful digital health resources, despite widespread use of tools such as patient portals, provider messaging, and online health searches.
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Using health or wellness apps on smartphones or tablets showed the strongest association with confidence in navigating digital health resources.
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Activities that required managing digital systems for a care recipient, including telehealth visits and patient portal use on another person’s behalf, were associated with lower confidence.
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Confidence varied significantly by age, gender, income, education, and caregiving role. Older caregivers, women, caregivers with lower socioeconomic status, and adult children caring for parents were less likely to feel confident, even when reporting similar levels of digital tool use.
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Caregivers who felt more confident using digital health resources were also more likely to feel confident managing their own health.
The interdisciplinary study team also included Sungsoo Ray Hong, assistant professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology at George Mason, and Krista Beran, a PhD student in nursing at George Mason.