ABSTRACT
This article examines how much women know about government services and benefits and discusses why this type of knowledge matters. Using data from a survey as well as focus groups conducted in Montreal and Toronto, we show that the women who are most likely to need information about these programs are often the least likely to be aware of them. This is especially true of low-income women, older women, and women who came to Canada as immigrants. We end by suggesting some steps that could be taken to address these knowledge gaps.
Subject(s)
Aging , Emigrants and Immigrants , Public Health Informatics , Social Class , Women's Health Services , Women , Aging/ethnology , Aging/physiology , Aging/psychology , Canada/ethnology , Emigrants and Immigrants/education , Emigrants and Immigrants/history , Emigrants and Immigrants/legislation & jurisprudence , Emigrants and Immigrants/psychology , Government Programs/economics , Government Programs/education , Government Programs/history , Government Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Public Health Informatics/economics , Public Health Informatics/education , Public Health Informatics/history , Public Health Informatics/legislation & jurisprudence , Social Class/history , Women/education , Women/history , Women/psychology , Women's Health/education , Women's Health/ethnology , Women's Health/history , Women's Health Services/economics , Women's Health Services/history , Women's Health Services/legislation & jurisprudence , Women's Rights/economics , Women's Rights/education , Women's Rights/history , Women's Rights/legislation & jurisprudenceABSTRACT
As part of a larger e-health strategy, Canadian governments have invested millions in online health information services for the lay public. These services are intended to reduce demands on the primary health care system by encouraging greater individual responsibility for health and are often promoted using the language of personal empowerment. In this paper, we describe how lay searchers generally look for online health information and discuss the disempowering challenges they are likely to face in (a) locating Canadian government-sponsored health information sites and (b) finding useful information on these sites to address everyday health concerns. We conclude with several recommendations for policy changes.
