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Human resources and intellectual capital are best utilised through an ongoing interaction between individual and social processes. Still there is a research gap of empirical multilevel studies, focusing both on individual and organisational aspects of knowledge processes. To fill this gap, this article reports on a quantitative study, where the relationship between information literacy and social capital, representing the individual and social contexts affecting organisational knowledge processes, is explored. Structural equation modelling-based analysis of 378 employees working in different companies in Finland demonstrated that information literacy supports all three dimensions of social capital at workplace. Strong information handling skills enable better access to knowledge beyond the resources of an individual, that is, social capital. The results of the study contribute to a better understanding of how to manage human resources and the information and knowledge processes that employees are expected to be involved in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library 2.0 is a change in the way libraries interact with their users. Technological developments on the Web have had a major influence on these changes. The change also places new requirements on librarians' competencies and skills. This research investigates how librarians themselves see this change in terms of their work identity and working knowledge. The research shows what kinds of qualities and characteristics are expected from a "Librarian 2.0," according to a group of professional librarians. The results associate "Librarian 2.0" firmly with the Web, although some of the more traditional characteristics of librarianship have retained their relevance. This research also shows that the change towards a "Librarian 2.0" can be seen as intimidating by some librarians, a fact that has to be taken into account when libraries develop their future strategies.

To explicate how experiences with patient-accessible electronic health records correspond to the expectations of the users, we present qualitative results of older adults' experiences with the Finnish national patient-accessible health record My Kanta and similar services. 24 persons, 17 women and 7 men aged 55–73, took part in the study. We interviewed six focus groups of 3–5 participants with previous experience of My Kanta, in two cities in Finland. We used a convenience sample and video- and audio-recording as well as note taking. The interviews were transcribed verbatim. The inductive analysis was based on content analysis. We identified major uses, enablers, barriers, and outcomes of My Kanta. In addition to earlier reported barriers and enablers, the findings show that launch-time lack of useful content and features in systems still under development can cause frustration and hinder their effective use at the time and in the long run. Concerns and barriers relating to use were socio-techno-informational and tightly associated with the contents of the system. Improved security, usability and additional information and functions might increase use. Furthermore, coherent and timely information from health-care providers should be available in the e-health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a study that examines older Finnish adults’ self-perceived capability to access, evaluate, understand and use health-related information, and their perceived ability to influence their health themselves, and the relationship between these factors and their current health, health behaviour and information seeking. Questionnaires were mailed by post to 1000 Finns aged 65–79 years, and a total of 281 completed questionnaires (28%) were returned. Of these, 273 were included in the study. Cross-tabulation and chi-square tests were used for the analysis. Results showed that both a stronger belief in one’s capability to master health information and to act in a healthy manner were positively linked to better health and health behaviour as well as more active information behaviour. These beliefs can be important factors for influencing certain health behaviours and even behaviour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although many surveys have been conducted on patients accessing their own health records in recent years, there is a limited amount of nationwide cross-country data available on patients' views and preferences. To address this gap, an international survey of patient users was conducted in the Nordic eHealth project, NORDeHEALTH., Objective: We aimed to investigate the sociodemographic characteristics and experiences of patients who accessed their electronic health records (EHRs) through national patient portals in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia., Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was distributed using the national online health portals. The target participants were patients who accessed the national patient portals at the start of 2022 and who were aged ≥15 years. The survey included a mixture of close-ended and free-text questions about participant sociodemographics, usability experience, experiences with health care and the EHR, reasons for reading health records online, experience with errors, omissions and offense, opinions about security and privacy, and the usefulness of portal functions. In this paper, we summarized the data on participant demographics, past experience with health care, and the patient portal through descriptive statistics., Results: In total, 29,334 users completed the survey, of which 9503 (32.40%) were from Norway, 13,008 (44.35%) from Sweden, 4713 (16.07%) from Finland, and 2104 (7.17%) from Estonia. National samples were comparable according to reported gender, with about two-thirds identifying as women (19,904/29,302, 67.93%). Age distributions were similar across the countries, but Finland had older users while Estonia had younger users. The highest attained education and presence of health care education varied among the national samples. In all 4 countries, patients most commonly rated their health as "fair" (11,279/29,302, 38.48%). In Estonia, participants were more often inclined to rate their health positively, whereas Norway and Sweden had the highest proportion of negative health ratings. Across the whole sample, most patients received some care in the last 2 years (25,318/29,254, 86.55%). Mental health care was more common (6214/29,254, 21.24%) than oncological care (3664/29,254, 12.52%). Overall, most patients had accessed their health record "2 to 9 times" (11,546/29,306, 39.4%), with the most frequent users residing in Sweden, where about one-third of patients accessed it "more than 20 times" (4571/13,008, 35.14%)., Conclusions: This is the first large-scale international survey to compare patient users' sociodemographics and experiences with accessing their EHRs. Although the countries are in close geographic proximity and demonstrate similar advancements in giving their residents online records access, patient users in this survey differed. We will continue to investigate patients' experiences and opinions about national patient-accessible EHRs through focused analyses of the national and combined data sets from the NORDeHEALTH 2022 Patient Survey., (©Maria Hägglund, Anna Kharko, Josefin Hagström, Annika Bärkås, Charlotte Blease, Åsa Cajander, Catherine DesRoches, Asbjørn Johansen Fagerlund, Barbara Haage, Isto Huvila, Iiris Hörhammer, Bridget Kane, Gunnar O Klein, Eli Kristiansen, Kerli Luks, Jonas Moll, Irene Muli, Eline Hovstad Raphaug, Hanife Rexhepi, Sara Riggare, Peeter Ross, Isabella Scandurra, Saija Simola, Hedvig Soone, Bo Wang, Maedeh Ghorbanian Zolbin, Rose-Mharie Åhlfeldt, Sari Kujala, Monika Alise Johansen. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 13.11.2023.)