Caregiver Attitudes Toward Internet-Enabled Sources of Information.

Caregivers have an array of informational needs in order to accomplish tasks, solve problems, obtain peace-of-mind, and make sense of their caregiving situation, which spurs them toward the activity of information seeking. Technologically enabled information sources, especially the internet, play an important role in caregiver information seeking. An online survey was conducted to explore the information sources that family caregivers rely on and what qualities of information sources are most important to caregivers, with particular attention paid to online sources such as websites, social media, video apps, podcasts, and virtual assistants. The survey was completed by 324 people who belong to a research panel of caregivers. Results indicate that the internet is the most commonly used information source among caregivers, as well as among the top-three most preferred sources. However, despite receiving high marks for ease of use and helpfulness, internet-based sources tended to score poorly on metrics of trustworthiness and reliability. The biggest difficulty that caregivers experience when seeking information is having insufficient time in the day to search for information, which may contribute to their reliance on the internet as a source despite its shortcomings in certain key dimensions. The internet may also have value as an information source for caregivers beyond purely practical concerns – including as a way to satisfy curiosity. For these reasons, among others, the internet stands as an essential informational resource for many unpaid family caregivers, alongside medical professionals and family and friends.