Taking health information behaviour into account in user-centered design of e-health services - key findings from an ongoing research project

New e-health services and technologies are developed around the world with
expectations of multiple individual and system-wide benefits. Even if there is no single
reason why many e-health projects have failed to deliver their expected gains, one
central contributing factor has been their narrow focus on technology and a failure to
understand the use of e-health in the context of citizens’ general health information
behaviour. Here we report key findings from the ongoing research project “Taking
Health Information Behaviour into Account: implications of a neglected element for
successful implementation of consumer health technologies on older adults“, funded by
the Academy of Finland (2015–2020). The project aims at explicating premises for the
development of e-health services that are comprehensible, meaningful, and useful in the
context of how older adults seek, use and manage information, and more specifically
health information, in their everyday lives.