Digital inclusion and Internet use among older adults in Brazil: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Objectives: To describe the profile of Brazilian older adults who use the Internet, the means of Internet access and the purpose of Internet use and to verify the existence of association between socio-demographic variables and variables related to Internet use. Method: Cross-sectional study with Brazilian older adults who used the social networks Facebook and WhatsApp. Descriptive, univariate, and bivariate analysis were conducted. Results: 384 older adults participated in the study, mostly women (52.08%), with a mean age of 64.6 years old and who used the Internet to address health concerns (65.36%). The main activities on the internet were reading, listening to music, playing games, watching videos and photos (37.30%). The main benefits pointed out were interaction (74.5%), learning (19.2%) and entertainment (19.25%). There were statistically significant differences between time spent online and the variables gender, age, and civil status. Conclusion: This study showed characteristics of older adults who use the Internet and revealed the possibility of using digital technologies to optimize health care for this population.摘要： 研究目的：旨在描绘巴西老年网民的群体特征、互联网接入方式及上网用途，并验证社会人口学变量与互联网使用相关变量之间是否存在关联。 研究方法：本研究为横断面研究（Cross-sectional study），研究对象为使用社交网络Facebook与WhatsApp的巴西老年人群，采用描述性分析、单变量分析及双变量分析方法开展研究。 研究结果：本研究共纳入384名老年参与者，其中女性占比52.08%，平均年龄为64.6岁；65.36%的参与者使用互联网解决健康相关问题。主要上网活动包括阅读、收听音乐、游玩游戏、观看视频与浏览照片（占比37.30%）。研究提及的主要获益包括社交互动（74.5%）、学习（19.2%）与休闲娱乐（19.25%）。上网时长与性别、年龄及婚姻状况变量间存在统计学显著性差异。 结论：本研究明确了巴西老年网民的群体特征，证实可借助数字技术优化该群体的医疗保健服务。