Engaging With Patient Online Health Information Use

Gilmour, Jean; Hanna, Sue; Chan, Helen Yue Lai; Strong, Alison; Huntington, Annette

doi:10.1177/2158244014550617

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Since web-based information is a highly effective tool for patient education, 18 it is important to manage and evaluate its quality and readability. According to our evaluation, two news portal websites and two commercial websites were highquality websites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality and readability of online information on hand osteoarthritis

Hong

Kang

Park

et al. 2023

Health Informatics J

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Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the quality and readability of web pages providing information about hand osteoarthritis using several authorized methods. Methods: A web page exploration was performed using the Google internet search engine. The three search terms, “hand osteoarthritis,” “finger osteoarthritis,” and “hand OA,” were used and the top 100 ranked websites were selected and divided into six categories. The Health on the Net Foundation (HON) grade scale, an instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choice (DISCERN instrument), and the Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP) score were used to evaluate the quality of each website. The Flesch-Kincaid reading ease (FRE) score, Flesch-Kincaid grade (FKG) level, Gunning-Fog index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook grade level were used to evaluate website readability. Results: Among 300 websites, 57 websites were selected following exclusion criteria. News portal websites, including the online version of newspapers and periodicals, showed the highest score in all three quality evaluation tools. Only four websites were regarded as high-quality websites based on the HON grade scale ( n = 3) and the EQIP score ( n = 1). Each type of website showed an average FKG level higher than 7th grade and obtained an average FRE score of less than 80 points, indicating an inappropriate level for a layperson to read. Conclusions: The online information about hand osteoarthritis is low quality and difficult to read for the general public. There is a need to enhance the quality and readability of web-based information related to hand osteoarthritis for patients to obtain credible information and receive proper treatment for the disease.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality and readability of online information on hand osteoarthritis

Hong

Kang

Park

et al. 2023

Health Informatics J

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“…Patients can also learn about their condition through Internet consultation. They use the same treatment as other patients with the same disease to reduce panic and uncertainty, improving patient compliance, and thus have a positive impact on offline patient-physician trust [19].…”

Section: Patient-physician Interaction and Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, we speculate that it is required for doctors to participate in the online health community or other social media to solve patients' queries. However, little research focuses on the function of doctors' online guidance for patients to acquire online health knowledge, and the influence on patient-physician interaction and trust.Patients discussing online health information with nurses and doctors during medical consultations have the potential to increase patients' positive and knowledgeable engagement in health care decisions [19]. At the same time, online health information search has a positive impact on the co-creation of patient value in the process of medical treatment, which mainly promotes the interaction between doctors and patients in the process of clinical treatment and the decision-making of sharing, so as to improve the compliance of patients with medical guidance, which is the embodiment of patients' trust in doctors [12].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Patient–Physician Interaction and Trust in Online Health Community: The Role of Perceived Usefulness of Health Information and Services

Peng

Yin

Deng

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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Background: In recent years, China has witnessed a surge in medical disputes, including many widely reported violent riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals. Asymmetric information between patient and physicians is one of the most critical enablers in this phenomenon, but the Web has become the primary resource for Chinese Internet applications to learn about health information and could potentially play a role in this pathway to patient-physician interaction and patient-physician trust. While considerable attention has been paid in some countries, there are few researches about China's situation for this issue. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the influence of online health information and the online guidance of doctors in patient health information literacy on patient-physician interaction and patient-physician trust in China. Methods: A web-based survey was conducted to collect data from online applications with health problems. A structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data to test the hypotheses. A total of 446 participants from the Tongji Hospital in Wuhan and Huazhong University of Science and Technology hospital participated in the study. Results: Our analysis shows that the usefulness of online health information and the online guidance of doctors both significantly influence the trust of the patient toward physicians and interaction with physicians. Furthermore, the patient-physician interaction also has a significant impact on the patient-physician trust. Conclusions: There are many studies on the influence of online health information on the doctor-patient relationship, whereas a little research has examined this relationship between health information online support from doctors and patient-physician interaction by quantitative empirical analysis. This study also explores the online guidance role of doctors and whether doctor-patient communication will affect the trust of doctors and patients. The practical implications of this study include an improved understanding of the function of online health information and potential impacts regarding the interaction with physicians and trust toward physicians that can be used to resolve conflicts between doctors and patients.with the traditional way of consulting with doctors or relatives or friends, Chinese Internet users are more inclined to use Internet applications to obtain health information. Studies have shown that patients' access to health information through the Internet has a positive impact on the improvement of patient-physician relationship [3][4][5][6]. The Internet has become the central resource for the public to obtain health information in China.Some studies found that 74.9% of medical staff viewed the current patient-physician relationship with a negative attitude, and medical disputes have frequently been reported such as violent riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals in China [7]. The tense patient-physician relationship mainly results from the lack of trust between doctors and patients, communicat...

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“…These were important aspects to capture for both our research objectives. A patient’s medical care situation and exposure may influence how they interpret web-based health care information [ 54 , 55 ], in general, and previous work has noted that medical skeptics may seek out in-person health care differently [ 8 ]. To accurately measure and control for these variations, we first included the approximate number of health care visits that respondents had made in the last 2 years because of illness or injury.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Website Traits and Medical Skepticism on Patients’ Willingness to Follow Web-Based Medical Advice: Web-Based Experiment

Claggett¹,

Kitchens²,

Paino³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background As people increasingly turn to web-based sources for medical information, we offer some insight into what website traits influence patients’ credibility assessment. Specifically, we control for brand and content length, while manipulating three website traits: authorship, format, and tone. Furthermore, we focus on medical skepticism to understand how patients with high levels of medical skepticism may react to web-based medical information differently. Medical skepticism is related to a patient’s doubts about the value of conventional medical care; therefore, skeptics may have different practices and criteria when conducting their own web-based medical searches. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate how website traits affect the likelihood that patients follow web-based medical advice and how this varies among patients with differing levels of medical skepticism. Methods This web-based experiment presented participants with a hypothetical medical situation about leg cramps and offered a website with treatment advice. We varied the websites the participants observed across three traits: authorship (patient or physician), format (article or discussion forum), and tone (objective or experience-based). The 2305 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 8 possible conditions and then asked the extent to which they would follow the advice. Health care patterns and coverage, demographics, and the participants’ level of medical skepticism were captured. Results Our participants were selected to be demographically representative of the population of internet users in the United States. The 2305 complete responses were analyzed with ordinary least squares regression. Our analysis reveals that people are more likely to accept web-based medical advice authored by a physician (P<.001) and presented with an objective tone (P=.006), but these preferences erode as the levels of medical skepticism increase. Medical skepticism was measured by means of a previously established index on a 0 to 4 scale, and the average score was 2.26 (SD 0.84). Individuals with higher levels of medical skepticism were more likely to follow web-based medical advice in our experiment (P<.001). Individuals with low levels of medical skepticism found the discussion forum format more credible, whereas those with high levels of medical skepticism preferred the article format (P=.03). We discuss the interactions between medical skepticism and all 3 website traits manipulated in the experiment. Conclusions Our findings suggest that, generally, physician authorship and an objective tone create more persuasive web-based medical advice. However, there are differences in how patients with high levels of medical skepticism react to web-based medical resources. Medical skeptics are less discerning regarding the author’s credentials and the presentation tone of the information. Furthermore, patients with higher levels of medical skepticism prefer article format presentations, whereas those with lower levels of medical skepticism prefer discussion forum–style formatting.

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Engaging With Patient Online Health Information Use

Cited by 11 publications

References 27 publications

Quality and readability of online information on hand osteoarthritis

Quality and readability of online information on hand osteoarthritis

Patient–Physician Interaction and Trust in Online Health Community: The Role of Perceived Usefulness of Health Information and Services

The Effects of Website Traits and Medical Skepticism on Patients’ Willingness to Follow Web-Based Medical Advice: Web-Based Experiment

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