Chronic illness and health-seeking information on the Internet

Ayers, Stephanie L.; Kronenfeld, Jennie Jacobs

doi:10.1177/1363459307077547

Cited by 219 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…[1][2][3] The internet is a promising means of delivering health information to patients 4 and allowing them better access to healthcare systems. 5 Additionally 70-80% of Americans use the internet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disparities in health-related internet use by US veterans: results from a national survey

McInnes

Gifford²,

Kazis³

2010

Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics

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Background The internet can contribute to improved access to information and services among underserved populations. Little is known about veterans' use of the internet for health, and how it is affected by socio-demographic characteristics. This knowledge gap is acute given the US Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) deployment of a major patient portal/personal health record system. Objectives To assess the frequency and correlates of veterans' use of the internet and identify personal characteristics impeding veterans' health-related internet use. Methods Survey of 12 878 randomly selected adults from a panel of 60 000 US households. Veterans were oversampled. Results Of the 3408 veterans responding, 54% had used the internet and 29% had used the internet specifically for health. In multi-variable analyses, general internet use was positively associated with younger age (OR = 0.03, CI = 0.01-0.06, oldest versus youngest group), higher income (OR = 3.12, CI = 2.10-4.63, $75 000 versus <$25 000), more education (OR = 4.2, CI = 2.92-6.02, most versus least educated group), and better health (OR = 0.59, CI = 0.42-83, fair/poor versus very good/excellent). Health-related internet use was positively associated with more education (OR = 2.32, CI = 1.45-3.74, most versus least educated group), urban location (OR = 2.41, CI = 1.66-3.50), and worse health (OR = 1.85, CI = 1.16-2.95, fair/poor versus very good/ excellent). Conclusions In the first large, systematic survey of veterans' internet use we found that more education and urban location were strongly, and positively, associated with veterans' health-related internet use, even after controlling for multiple socio-demographic characteristics. Interventions may be needed for less educated and rural veterans, e.g. by providers discussing internet use with their patients, or by the VA training veterans in health-related internet use.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disparities in health-related internet use by US veterans: results from a national survey

McInnes

Gifford²,

Kazis³

2010

Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics

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“…Spink et al [23] characterized healthcare-related queries issued to Web search engines, and showed that users were gradually shifting from general-purpose search engines to specialized Web sites for medical-and health-related queries. Ayers and Kronenfeld [1] also utilized log data on Web use, and perform a multiple regression analysis to explore the relationship between chronic medical conditions and frequency of Web use, as well as changes in health behavior due to frequency of Web use. Their findings suggest that it was not the presence of one particular chronic illness, but rather the total number of chronic conditions that determines the nature of Web use.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intentions and attention in exploratory health search

Cartright

White

Horvitz

2011

Proceedings of the 34th International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval

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We study information goals and patterns of attention in exploratory search for health information on the Web, reporting results of a large-scale log-based study. We examine search activity associated with the goal of diagnosing illness from symptoms versus more general information-seeking about health and illness. We decompose exploratory health search into evidence-based and hypothesis-directed information seeking. Evidence-based search centers on the pursuit of details and relevance of signs and symptoms. Hypothesis-directed search includes the pursuit of content on one or more illnesses, including risk factors, treatments, and therapies for illnesses, and on the discrimination among different diseases under the uncertainty that exists in advance of a confirmed diagnosis. These different goals of exploratory health search are not independent, and transitions can occur between them within or across search sessions. We construct a classifier that identifies medically-related search sessions in log data. Given a set of search sessions flagged as health-related, we show how we can identify different intentions persisting as foci of attention within those sessions. Finally, we discuss how insights about foci dynamics can help us better understand exploratory health search behavior and better support health search on the Web.

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“…Scholars suggest that younger people tend to seek information more actively than older people (Mayer et al, 2007;Rutten et al, 2005). The frequency of older adults' internet usage for health information is lower relative to younger users (Ayers & Kronenfeld, 2007). One study reveals that 60% of older adults use the Internet to find health care information, compared to 70% for middle-aged and younger (Miller & Bell, 2012).…”

Section: The Effects Of Age and Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Information Sharing on the Web: The Influences of Age and Gender

Kim¹,

Lee²

2012

Journal of the Korean Society for information Management

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This study investigated what web users share on a health website and how the demographic characteristics of users reflect health information sharing behavior. By using a content analysis method, this study analyzed 1,042 randomly chosen messages in the discussion board of a health website. The results revealed that the health website users emotionally supported other users, provided health information, and built relationships between them. Two third of the health website users shared his/her thoughts or feelings about ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) on the health website and one fourth of the health website users connected with others who had ALS. A half of the users actively provided information as a direct response to a question. No significant differences were discerned with regard to total posting frequency by age and gender effect. However, the male users in the 50s answered questions to others more actively and tried to manage their life better than the other age groups.

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Chronic illness and health-seeking information on the Internet

Cited by 219 publications

References 36 publications

Disparities in health-related internet use by US veterans: results from a national survey

Disparities in health-related internet use by US veterans: results from a national survey

Intentions and attention in exploratory health search

Health Information Sharing on the Web: The Influences of Age and Gender

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