The increase in the number of older adults and the incidence of long-term conditions like diabetes coupled with major societal changes are challenging conventional health care around the world. In spite of the promises, many e-health services have not been successful in bringing sustainable innovations.

E-health systems have extensively been created assuming that consumers can identify their health needs and have the ability to meet them without taking into account the complexity of everyday life health information behaviour. To be really effective, health information should be tailored to the health information behaviour, including interests, literacy and background, of its users.

The aim of HIBA is to study how citizen’s health information behaviour influences the use of consumer health technologies and how these technologies can be effectively tailored for a growing ageing population suffering from a chronic condition (type 2 diabetes) to add value to traditional health services.

http://blogs2.abo.fi/hiba/