scholarly journals Impact of Internet Use on Elderly Health: Empirical Study Based on Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) Data

Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Changyong Liang ◽  
Keqing Li

In the current era, the rapid spread of Internet technology has combined with various traditional industries; this provides new research perspectives and solutions for current problems, such as those in the elderly care industry. Elderly health is an important social problem in various countries, and governments have turned to the internet for new methods and better solutions. However, internet-use behavior has a certain influence on the elderly’s health status. This study investigates the effects of internet use on the elderly’s physical health, mental health, and self-rated health, along with the moderating role of individual cognitive ability in the above relationship. This study uses data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2012 and 2015 as samples for analysis via the hierarchical regression method. The sample is from China and had 2821 and 3185 valid respondents in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Results show that internet use significantly affects the physical and mental health of the elderly and does not significantly affect self-rated health. In addition, individual cognitive ability plays a negative moderating role between internet use and physical and mental health. Finally, on the basis of results analysis and discussion, this study provides new recommendations to achieve targeted health improvements.

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1143
Author(s):  
Liping Fu ◽  
Yu Xie

An aging population and social informatization are currently the two main social phenomena affecting China. Under their influences, the real-life experiences of older adults are becoming more and more closely connected to the online world, and the influences of the Internet on healthy aging cannot be ignored. This work aimed to study whether Internet use had an effect on the physical and mental health of older adults, whether the effect was positive or negative, and whether its influence on physical and mental health was heterogeneous. In this study, data from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) was used to analyze the effects of social media use on the physical and mental health of older adults. The results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between social media use and the health of older adults. The correlation between social media use and mental health of older adults was more significant than physical health. These results could help us further study the effects of Internet use on the health of older adults.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujie Zhang

Abstract Background Many previous studies have proved that positive psychology can promote mental health. However, little is known about how and when it promotes mental health in older adults. Methods The data of this study were sourced from the 2017 wave of Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), involving 1,537 older adults aged 60 and above. OLS regression model was used to explore the impact of positive psychology on mental health of the elderly. Moreover, stata 16.0 was used to measure the moderating effect of individualism on the relationship between positive psychology and mental health. Results After controlling for demographic characteristics, socio-economic status and lifestyle factors, the regression results suggest that positive psychology was associated with mental health (coefficient = 0.112, p < 0.01). In addition, the positive relationship was significantly stronger for people who were older, married, lived in urban areas, with higher education and higher subjective social class position, and higher exercise frequency. Moreover, the moderating effect analysis results suggest that individualism strengthened the relationship between positive psychology and mental health. Conclusions This study reveals that positive psychology has a positive effect on mental health among the elderly, and the positive health effect shows significant age, marital status, living areas, education background, social class position and physical exercise inequalities. Furthermore, this study also provides new evidence indicating that individualism positively moderates the relationship between positive psychology and mental health. Promoting positive psychology can be a promising way for China to promote psychological care for the elderly in the future.


Author(s):  
Nanqian Chen ◽  
Yanpei Shen ◽  
Hailun Liang ◽  
Rui Guo

Housing is one of the social determinants of health and the most basic survival needs of human beings. Many studies have preliminarily confirmed that housing factors can influence residents’ health. The aims of this study were: to evaluate the housing factors associated with self-rated health and mental health among Chinese residents; to explore the regional heterogeneity of the impact of housing on health; and to assess the effects of housing on health among different age groups. Data was derived from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Housing factors were analyzed along six dimensions: housing property, living space, number of living people, number of houses, living region and housing price. Self-rated health and mental health were used to measure health outcomes. Multivariate ordered logistic regression was performed to assess the relationship between housing and health. The living space, living region and housing price was significantly associated with self-rated health. The number of living people living region and housing price were related to mental health. The influence of housing factors on health were more pronounced among residents living in eastern and central area and among the middle-aged group (41–65). Present findings support the notion that housing factors were related to health outcomes. Future studies may focus on the impact of interventions that target on these factors, and the impact of housing on health among special groups such as migrant population and low-and-middle income families.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua-lei Yang ◽  
Yuan-yang Wu ◽  
Xue-yu Lin ◽  
Lin Xie ◽  
Shuo Zhang ◽  
...  

Purpose: The research objectives of this study are to test the scientific propositions of whether Internet use promotes life satisfaction among the elderly, whether there is variability in the effect of Internet use on the well-being of the elderly, and through what channels Internet use affects the elderly's life satisfaction.Method: Using data from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this paper employed linear regression, ordered logit model, and the propensity score matching (PSM) approach to investigate the association of Internet use with life satisfaction among the elderly in China.Results: The results show that Internet use was significantly and negatively associated with the life satisfaction of the Chinese elderly. Further analysis on group heterogeneity demonstrates that the negative association was more prominent among the participants who were males, at a lower age, had lower income and education, non-agricultural registered, and relatively healthy. Finally, the mediating effect indicates that Internet use may affect life satisfaction among the elderly through the channel of reducing their perceptions of social justice.Conclusions: In order to avoid the negative effects of using the Internet, the following policy suggestions are put forward: Improve the elderly's attitudes toward Internet use; pay attention to the sense of fairness of the elderly to improve life satisfaction; guide the elderly to reduce the time of using the Internet.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhui Han ◽  
Xiaoqiong Zhao

Based on the data of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2017, the paper divides overall health into physical, mental, and social health, using the ordered probit model to examine the impact of Internet use on multi-dimensional health. It then discusses the possible heterogeneity in different groups and underlying mechanism. Results found that using the Internet can improve the health level in multiple dimensions. After endogenous and robustness tests, the results remain robust. Heterogeneity analysis shows that Internet use has more obvious effects on the health of senior high school education or above, the elderly, and men. Further analysis of the mediating effect model found that information, leisure, and social preferences are important path mechanisms for Internet use to promote physical, mental, and social health, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Feng ◽  
Yinan Zhao ◽  
Mingyue Hu ◽  
Hengyu Hu ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Dementia is one of the major cause of disability and dependency among the elderly worldwide, and there are general psychological distresses among caregivers in dementia, such as depression and anxiety symptoms. The physical and mental health of the caregiver is a prerequisite and a promise to help the elderly stay alive and promote health. Web-based interventions can provide for a more convenient and efficient support and education, OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of internet-based interventions on mental health outcomes of family caregivers with dementia, and exploring which components of the web-based interventions play an important role.which are likely to reduce caregivers’ negative outcomes associated with care. METHODS A comprehensive literature search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database and CINAHL by using relevant terms such as web-based and caregiver as keywords, covering all studies published before June 2018. Two reviewers independently reviewed all published abstracts, according to the established inclusion and exclusion criteria ,we extracted the information about participants, interventions and results, respectively, and reviewed the quality of articles on the methods of randomized trials using the approach recommended by the Cochrane Handbook for systematic review for intervention. RESULTS A total of 815 caregivers participated in 6 articles, and 4 of the studies use depression as an outcome, according to the research after different interventions based on network after the intervention, depression scores average drop of 0.23 (95%CI -0.38 to -0.07, p<0.01), 2 studies show caregivers anxiety symptoms, the average score for anxiety dropped by 0.32 points (95% CI -0.50 to -0.14, p< 0.01), but in terms of coping, pain and stress, the web-based interventions have shown a poor effect. On the whole, the addition of professional psychological support on the basis of education can improve mental health of carers. CONCLUSIONS Internet-based interventions were generally effective in reducing anxiety and depression in dementia carers, although negative results were found in some studies. But in terms of burden and stress, further research is needed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeedeh Fehresti ◽  
Elham Monaghesh

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 outbreak has affected the elderly's physical and mental health. The application of information and communication technology, such as mobile health (m-health), can play a significant role in combating this pandemic by changing the behavior and lifestyle of the elderly during this time of crisis. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aimed to synthesize m-health capabilities in providing health services to the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify the factors associated with the success of these tools. METHODS To find the relevant studies, a search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The inclusion criteria were: studies in English that used m-health intervention in all aspects of elderly healthcare during the COVID-19 outbreak, published in peer-reviewed journals from 31 December 2019, and had any research design and methodology. Two authors independently took all the steps of this review, and finally performed narrative synthesis to report the findings. RESULTS Our initial search identified 421 studies, of which 10 met the inclusion criteria. The data analysis showed that all the m-health interventions had positive effects on the health of the elderly. The m-health services for the elderly during the current pandemic were used for therapy, information provision, self-help, monitoring, and mental health consultation purposes. The results also indicated that various factors affected the elderly's use of m-health tools. CONCLUSIONS The application of m-health keeps the elderly and healthcare providers safe, accelerates health service provision, reduces the costs of service delivery, and decreases the risk of morbidity and mortality during the COVID-19 outbreak. The successful use of m-health tools for the elderly in health programs during the current crisis greatly depends on supporting the elderly and overcoming the barriers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 155798832110126
Author(s):  
Anika R. Petrella ◽  
Catherine M. Sabiston ◽  
Madison F. Vani ◽  
Andrew Matthew ◽  
Daniel Santa Mina

Exploring tenets of basic psychological needs theory, the objective of this study was to examine the association between psychological needs satisfaction, exercise behavior, and physical and mental health among testicular cancer survivors. The present study investigated whether psychological needs satisfaction was directly associated with increased self-rated health, and if this relationship was mediated by engagement in exercise. Testicular cancer survivors ( N = 135; Mage = 32.45; SD = 7.63) self-reported current psychological needs satisfaction, exercise behavior, and perceived global physical and mental health during routine oncology visits. Associations were examined using path analysis. Psychological needs satisfaction was a positive correlate of both self-rated physical and mental health in this sample, and exercise mediated the association between needs satisfaction and self-rated physical health. This study supports the assumptions underpinning basic psychological needs theory in this unique clinical population. Based on the findings, exercise engagement represents one mechanism associated with perceived health after cancer. Supportive care interventions should aim to enhance satisfaction of psychological needs and investigate exercise as a mechanism underpinning the relationship between needs satisfaction and perceived health in testicular cancer survivors.


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