University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging

The University of Michigan published results of its National Poll on Healthy Aging this week.

The full report is four pages long. Clipped here for length.

https://www.healthyagingpoll.org/reports-more/report/health-literacy-how-well-can-older-adults-find-understand-and-use-health

Health Literacy: How Well Can Older Adults Find, Understand, and Use Health Information?

October 16, 2024

Key Findings

• The majority of adults age 50 and older use the internet (82%) or a health care provider (81%) as a source of health information.

• 20% of older adults are not confident they can identify health / medical misinformation.

• 74% of adults age 50 and over would have very little or no trust in health information generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Health literacy is how well a person can find, understand, and use health information to make decisions and take actions for themselves and others. Health literacy helps build trust in medical settings and public health organizations, and it promotes good health and well-being for all. Strong health literacy skills also help people identify health misinformation — information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading based on the best available evidence or scientific knowledge at the time. 

To understand older adults’ health literacy skills and experiences with health misinformation, in February and March 2024 the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging asked a national sample of adults age 50 and older where they get health information, how trustworthy they find it, and whether they would trust health information generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The poll also asked older adults about their confidence in understanding and finding accurate health information. 

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Data Source and Methods from the full report:

"This National Poll on Healthy Aging report presents findings from a national household survey conducted exclusively by NORC at the University of Chicago for the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. This survey module was administered online and by phone from February 22nd–March 12th, 2024 to a randomly selected, stratified group of U.S. adults age 50–101 (n=3,379), with an oversample of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic populations. The survey completion rate was 44% among panel members invited to participate. The margin of error is +/– 1 to 4 percentage points for questions asked of the full sample and higher among subgroups."

The full report also lists those on the project:

Jeffrey Kullgren, MD, MS, MPH     Director
Erica Solway, PhD, MPH, MSW     Deputy Director
Scott Roberts, PhD                     Associate Director
Teresa Keenan, PhD                    AARP Collaborator
Cheryl Lampkin, PhD                  AARP Collaborator
Dianne Singer, MPH                    Poll Manager
Nicholas Box, MPA                      Data Analyst
Sydney Strunk, MPH                   Research Specialist
Emily Smith, MA                         Multimedia Designer

Far more surprising than the results, in my view, is the fact that nine people spent nine+ months capturing proof for what is considered common sense to the rest of the world.

Perhaps the better research question is not how well older Americans evaluate health misinformation, but whether academics can spot fake news.