Trust in Health Information Among Older Adults in Iceland

The aim of the study is to explore trust in health information among Icelanders´ who have reached the age of 56 years and older. In particular, it will examine their perceptions of factors that impact the evaluation of the quality of health information and their experience of false- and misinformation, as well as their media and information literacy in connection to it. The following research questions were asked: (1) What are older adults experience of false information and misinformation in relation to health? (2) How do they perceive their capabilities of critically evaluating and selecting quality health information? The data was gathered in April to June 2022 by a telephone survey and an internet survey from random samples of 214 people aged 56 years and older. Both datasets were merged, allowing answers from all individuals belonging to each set of data. The total response rate was 45%. The main findings are that the participants were rather confident about their ability to detect false- or misinformation about health and were not troubled by it. Information from health professionals was considered most reliable, and health information in social media the least. Nevertheless, it seems that during COVID-19 older adults have become more skeptical of health professionals. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the participants are more familiar with printed sources and that they find it easier to critically judge the quality of information in it rather than in digital sources. Thus, health information sources that they are more accustomed to use still seem to hold a higher value for them than digital sources.