Helen Atherton*, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain Track: Research Presentation Topic: Consumer empowerment, patient-physician relationship, and sociotechnical issues Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Mermaid Room: Room 4 - Queenshithe Date: 2013-09-24 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Last modified: 2013-09-25

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Introduction
Email is common, but not routinely used in healthcare for communicating with patients. However policymakers globally have pressed for it to be used as a method for patients and healthcare professionals to communicate with each other. One of the major concerns associated with introducing email into healthcare is the potential effect of the digital divide. The digital divide occurs where there are disparities in relation to access to, use of or knowledge of information and communication technologies, and it occurs even amongst those who use the Internet. We do not know how much of an issue the digital divide is in relation to use of email for communicating with healthcare professionals, and what impact this might have on this type of email use in healthcare.
Objective
To compare characteristics of Internet users who have sent/received an email to/from their doctor or healthcare organisation with those who have not, by country and in relation to demographic and health status factors.
Methods
We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected as part of the EU Online Panel Survey. The survey was conducted online in an Internet using population across 14 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and UK) with 1000 interviews conducted per country. We conducted an explanatory analysis to compare email use (yes/no) with country, demographic factors and health status factors.
Results
Rates of email use for communicating with a doctor/healthcare organisation were highest in Denmark (52.6%) and lowest in France (19.8%). Males, those aged 25-54 and those educated to tertiary level were more likely to have used email to communicate with their doctor/healthcare organisation. Students and those in households of more than four were also more likely to have used email to communicate in this way. Health status impacted on use levels; those in poor health and those having visited the doctor more than six times in the last six months were more likely to have used email in this way, as were those with more than two health problems.
Discussion
The findings fit with some of what is known about the digital divide; that younger people and those more highly educated are more likely to be utilising information and communications technologies. However findings relating to health status indicate that those reporting poor health are more likely to use email. This challenges the perception that the introduction of communications technologies in healthcare will not bring benefit to patients and will increase healthcare demand by serving the ‘worried well’. Further investigation of the data is necessary using multilevel analysis to investigate potential confounding factors.