Is There a Weekly Pattern for Health Searches on Wikipedia and Is the Pattern Unique to Health Topics?

Abstract

BackgroundOnline health information–seeking behaviors have been reported to be more common at the beginning of the workweek. This behavior pattern has been interpreted as a kind of “healthy new start” or “fresh start” due to regrets or attempts to compensate for unhealthy behavior or poor choices made during the weekend. However, the observations regarding the most common health information–seeking day were based only on the analyses of users’ behaviors with websites on health or on online health-related searches. We wanted to confirm if this pattern could be found in searches of Wikipedia on health-related topics and also if this search pattern was unique to health-related topics or if it could represent a more general pattern of online information searching—which could be of relevance even beyond the health sector.ObjectiveThe aim was to examine the degree to which the search pattern described previously was specific to health-related information seeking or whether similar patterns could be found in other types of information-seeking behavior.MethodsWe extracted the number of searches performed on Wikipedia in the Norwegian language for 911 days for the most common sexually transmitted diseases (chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], and acquired immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS]), other health-related topics (influenza, diabetes, and menopause), and 2 nonhealth-related topics (footballer Lionel Messi and pop singer Justin Bieber). The search dates were classified according to the day of the week and ANOVA tests were used to compare the average number of hits per day of the week.ResultsThe ANOVA tests showed that the sexually transmitted disease queries had their highest peaks on Tuesdays (P<.001) and the fewest searches on Saturdays. The other health topics also showed a weekly pattern, with the highest peaks early in the week and lower numbers on Saturdays (P<.001). Footballer Lionel Messi had the highest mean number of hits on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, whereas pop singer Justin Bieber had the most hits on Tuesdays. Both these tracked search queries also showed significantly lower numbers on Saturdays (P<.001).ConclusionsOur study supports prior studies finding an increase in health information searching at the beginning of the workweek. However, we also found a similar pattern for 2 randomly chosen nonhealth-related terms, which may suggest that the search pattern is not unique to health-related searches. The results are potentially relevant beyond the field of health and our preliminary findings need to be further explored in future studies involving a broader range of nonhealth-related searches.

The aspect of time in online health information behaviour

“…On a seasonal, as well as daily level, the Weight loss sub-category and Weight control sub-topic, with increased activity in the beginning of the year as well as the beginning of the day show signs of what has been called the "Fresh start effect". This kind of aspirational behaviour with a healthy new start has been identified in previous research, and implies that for some health related issues, beginnings such as New Year's, a new week or workweek, are times when people are motivated to pursue health related aspirations (Dai et al, 2014;Gabarron et al, 2015). Regarding alcohol related discussions on a seasonal level, the findings in this study support Mustonen et al (2010) and Poikolainen et al (2002) who found that alcohol consumption during the year peak in spring and especially around Eastern holidays, mid-summer and throughout the Christmas holidays.…”

‘WP2Cochrane’, a tool linking Wikipedia to the Cochrane Library: Results of a bibliometric analysis evaluating article quality and importance

“…Our analysis would suggest that updating these Wikipedia articles with these Cochrane Reviews would improve their quality on the basis of Wikipedia's own rating system. In light of the multi-societal disposition to consult the Internet for health-related information 19,[45][46][47][48][49] and the widely prevalent use of Wikipedia specifically to fulfil these information needs, 11,19,23,50,51 its value as a free source of knowledge, and the importance of ensuring that this knowledge reflects highquality scientific evidence, are indisputable. As the most referenced scientific journal among medical Wikipedia articles, 37 the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is an invaluable source of the secondary research cited on Wikipedia.…”

Rhythmicity of health information behaviour

“…This rhythmicity and these temporal patterns and variations are difficult to capture by surveys, interviews or questionnaires, and are therefore not easily comparable to previous findings on health information behaviour. Some of these temporal patterns, with increased behaviour at the beginning of the day, week, year or after summer vacation, could be seen as aspirational behaviour, and interpreted as a kind of “healthy new start” or “fresh start” (Dai et al , 2014; Gabarron et al , 2015). This is particularly evident on a circaseptan and circannual level for health-related discussions.…”

“…Many health behaviours, issues and disorders, both somatic and psychological, follow different temporal patterns on circannual, circa-monthly, circaseptan, as well as circadian, levels. Variations in temporal structures have been reported for a myriad of symptoms and diseases as well as health-related behaviours, from sleeping disorders and depression to risk behaviours and diseases like, for example, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer (Basnet et al , 2016; Gabarron et al , 2015; Madden, 2017; Reinberg et al , 2017). This is the case for health information behaviour, or how people seek, obtain, evaluate, categorise and use health-related information, as well (Ek, 2013).…”