Health issues are a vital concern for older adults, and surveys show that most of those who go online search for health and medical information. However, since only 34 percent of people age 65 and older are online, the majority of older adults are missing out on valuable health information.

To broaden the numbers of older adults able to search for and find reliable health information online, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) has developed a free training curriculum for those who teach and work with older adults. This Toolkit for Trainers is now available on NIHSeniorHealth.gov, a senior-friendly Web site developed by the NIA and the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This training program is designed to open up the Internet to older adults who want to know more about the health issues facing them as they age.”

The Toolkit for Trainers can be a welcome addition to computer training programs at public libraries, senior centers, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers, places where older adults typically take computer courses. Instructors at these locations can use the curriculum to teach older adults how to find accurate, up-to-date online health information on their own.

In addition to Web skills development, the easy-to-use curriculum focuses on top-notch health and wellness information offered by NIHSeniorHealth and MedlinePlus. NIHSeniorHealth features short, easy-to-read segments of information that can be accessed in a variety of formats, including various large-print type sizes, open-captioned videos and an audio version.

Trainers who download the toolkit at http://www.nihseniorhealth.gov/toolkit/toolkit.html
access a set of materials they can customize to their students’skill levels and interests. These include lesson plans, student handouts, Web searching exercises and illustrated glossaries. An introductory video gives a quick overview of the curriculum and a glimpse of Internet classes in action. Tips on how to set up a senior-friendly computer classroom also are provided.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Consumer Health, Outreach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.