Abstract

CRUZ-CUNHA, Maria Manuela; SIMOES, Ricardo; VARAJAO, João  and  MIRANDA, Isabel. The impact of the digital divide in the potential use of an electronic market for health and social care services. RISTI [online]. 2014, n.14, pp.33-49. ISSN 1646-9895.  https://doi.org/10.17013/risti.14.33-49.

More and more, individuals need advanced digital skills to fully participate in society. In a Europe increasingly aging is now recognized the importance and potential of the service industry for aging well based on information and communication technologies (ICT), as exemplified by the electronic market of social services and healthcare, the GuiMarket, that the authors proposed to a municipality in the North of Portugal. Based on the results of a survey undertaken on a sample of 315 individuals, this article discusses the importance recognized to such service and the frequency of intended use, concluding that there is an intimate relationship between the access to ICT and the use that respondents anticipate making of the GuiMarket.

Keywords : e-Marketplace; healthcare services; social care services; digital divide; information and communication technologies.

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