Internet Use for Health-Related Information: Self-Care Agency of Lower Income Persons Living With HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Chronically ill persons with a condition requiring self-care activities can benefit from learning from reliable internet sources. Orem’s theory of self-care was used to answer the question: Does increasing technical knowledge about reliable internet sites for health information increase self-care agency of low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS (N = 100)? Self-care agency, as measured by the Self-As-Carer Inventory, increased but not significantly, after two educational interventions. We hoped to gain insight into the measurement of self-care agency in our African American and Hispanic population. The only significantly different basic conditioning factor was ethnicity in that non-Hispanic/Latinos scored higher on self-care agency than Hispanic/Latinos; the only significantly different subscale was the Judgment and Decisions Affecting Production of Self-care subscale. Self-care agency remained stable over the 1-week period, pointing to two possible conclusions: Scores accurately reflect self-care agency, and a more intensive, longer intervention may be needed to change self-care agency.