e-Mental health in South Australia: impact of age, gender and region of residence

• DOI: 10.1071/py13027
• Publication Date: 2013-08-15T10:04:32Z
• Authors: Miriam C. Keane; Leigh S. Roeger; Stephen Allison; Richard L. Reed
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Mental Health Services; health equality; Adolescent; 2739 Public Health; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Age Distribution; 0302 clinical medicine; South Australia; Prevalence; Humans; rural health; Sex Distribution; Internet; Consumer Health Information; Mental Disorders; Environmental and Occupational Health; Middle Aged; 2719 Health Policy; Health Surveys; Telemedicine; 3. Good health; Socioeconomic Factors; service provision; Female

Respondents to the 2008 South Australian Health Omnibus survey (n = 2996) indicated whether, in the previous 12 months, they had searched for information on the Internet relating to emotional issues such as depression, anxiety or relationship problems. Logistic regression was used to examine the penetration of e-mental health in rural and metropolitan areas (region of residence), and determine if other demographic variables (age group, gender) also impacted on the likelihood of an individual reporting that they had used the Internet to obtain such information. Overall, 9% of respondents reported that they had used the Internet for this purpose. The multivariate model was significant, F(11, 2985) = 4.82, P < 0.0001, with middle-aged rural females most likely to report doing so (18.1%), whereas older rural males were least likely to report doing so (2.2.%). These findings have important implications for the design of e-mental health promotional programs that provide information and interventions to improve mental health.