Preventive Health Care Information Delivery Systems: Is Social Media Relevant?

Preventive Health Care (PHC) is the awareness and efforts a person undertakes to enhance and preserve physical, mental, and emotional health for today and the future. This research examines the importance of online delivery systems as sources of PHC information. It examines how health care consumers respond to various online PHC delivery systems, with a special emphasis on social media (SM). Specifically different demographic groups are compared to determine the importance each group places on various online delivery systems. The results of a survey showed the 35-44 year old group placing the greatest importance of retrieving PHC information online. Older consumers indicated less importance for online delivery systems. Better-educated consumers indicated greater importance for formal online sources of PHC information. Likewise women considered formal sources more important than men. Among ethnic groups, Hispanics considered online sources most important.