Background:
A variety
of
eHealth
services
are
available
and
commonly
used
by
the
general
public.
eHealth
has
the
potential
to
eng
age
and
empo
wer
people
with
managing
their
health.
The
prerequisite
is,
howe
ver, that
eHealth
services
are
adapted
to
the
sociocultural
heterogeneity
of
the
user
base
and
are
available
in
a language
and
with
contents
that
fit the
users’
preference,
skills,
and
abilities.
Pakistani
immigrants
in
the
Oslo
area,
Norw
ay, have a much
higher
risk
of
Type-2
diabetes
(T2D)
than
their
Norwe
gian
counterparts
do.
In
spite
of
having
access
to
information
and
communication
technology
(ICT)
and
the
Internet,
ICT
skills
in
this
population
are
reported
to
be
relati
vely
low. Further
, there
is insuf
ficient
information
about
their
use
of
and
attitudes
toward
eHealth
services,
necessitating
investig
ation
of
this
group
in
particular
.
Objecti
ve:
This
study
tar
gets
first-generation
immigrants
from
Pakistan
living
in
the
Oslo
area
and
examines
their
use
of
and
attitudes
toward
eHealth
services,
specif
ically:
information
searches,
communication
using
ICT
, and
use
of
ICT
for
self-management
or
decision
making,
all
concerning
T2D.
Methods:
Due
to
a high
pre
valence
of
low literac
y among
the
tar
get
population,
we
emplo
yed
questionnaire-based
indi
vidual
intervie
ws.
The
questionnaire
was
developed
by
implementing
potentially
rele
vant
theoretical
constructs
(technology
acceptance
model
(TAM)
and
health
belief
model
(HBM))
as
measures.
To explore
issues
around
language,
culture,
and
general
ICT
skills,
we
also
implemented
questions
that
we
assume
were
particularly
rele
vant
in the
conte
xt studied
but do
not
appear
in any theoretical
frame
works.
The
questionnaire
was
revised
to
reflect
results
of
a pilot
study
involving
10
participants.
We emplo
yed
culturally
sensiti
ve sampling
methods
to
reach
informants
who
could
otherwise
fail
to
be
included
in
the
surv
ey.
Results:
This
paper
presents
a surv
ey protocol.
The
data
collection
is ongoing.
The
aim
is to
collect
200
responses
in
total
by
March
2016.
Conclusions:
For
eHealth
to
become
an
influential
social
inno
vation,
equal
access
to
eHealth
services
regardless
of
users’
language,
culture,
and
ICT
skills
is a prerequisite.
Results
from
this
study
will
be
of
importance
for
understanding
how
people
who
may
not
maximally
benef
it from
eHealth
services
today
could
be
tar
geted
in
the
future