How Patients With Schizophrenia Use the Internet: Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background The Internet is an important source of health information for people with psychiatric conditions. Little is known about the way patients with schizophrenia use the Internet when it comes to issues related to their illness. Data on their specific needs, difficulties, and the consequences related to Internet use are lacking.Objective Our objective was to investigate the nature and subjective consequences of health-related Internet use among patients with schizophrenia.Methods In all, 26 individual semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed qualitatively in groups of 4 until theoretical saturation was achieved.Results Study results suggest that the Internet is an influential source of illness-related information for patients with schizophrenia. Many aspects of their behavior around the Internet resemble those of individuals not afflicted by mental illness. Importantly, problems specific to patients with schizophrenia were stimulus overflow, an inability to deal with the abundance of information, difficulties with concentration, lack of energy, paranoid ideas, symptom provocation, and the need to distance themselves from illness-related topics as part of the recovery process. Internet information was subjectively perceived as having the potential to significantly change patients’ attitudes toward medication and their relationships with doctors.Conclusions These findings provide insight into how individuals with schizophrenia handle illness-related Internet information. The data could contribute to the continuous development of Internet-based interventions and offer novel approaches to optimizing traditional treatment options.

Differences in the Use and Opinions About New eHealth Technologies Among Patients With Psychosis: Structured Questionnaire (Preprint)

“…In accordance with previous studies [4,11,22] and with our third hypothesis, the majority of patients reported positive experiences related to internet usage. However, 22.7% (22/97) of the patients felt frustrated or anxious in relation to the internet, and…”

“…However, in accordance with our hypotheses and with previous studies [10], the FEP patients used this resource to a greater extent than the suggest that despite the fact that the internet is an accessible and fast resource to obtain information [18,22], patients still rely on clinicians as their first source of health information.…”

“…It should be noted that despite the fact that the access and use of technology were found to be higher in the FEP group, there were no differences in relation to their experiences or opinions of internet usage. However, these negative experiences have been found in previous studies [11,19,22], and they suggest that though the internet could be a great resource to improve the empowerment of the patient in the management of his/her illness [22] or as an entertainment resource [11], the internet could also be a source of stress by causing anxious or paranoids feelings [11,19,22]. It is important to mention that between 50-56% of the general Spanish population agree with "being worried about internet, social media and government use of personal information given on the internet" [23]; in line with this, we suggest that new technologies are a source of information that could be interpreted as a false alarm signal that may trigger paranoid symptoms.…”

Online, social media and mobile technologies for psychosis treatment: A systematic review on novel user-led interventions

“…The Internet has also become a powerful source of information and support for patients with psychosis (Haker et al, 2005), with the potential to significantly influence health related behaviors and decisions as well as the clinician-patient relationship (Schrank et al, 2010). Emerging evidence indicates that the use of the Internet by people with psychosis resembles that of individuals not affected by mental illness (Haker et al, 2005;Schrank et al, 2010). People with psychosis use the Internet effectively to create social connections enabling the development of both virtual and face-to-face relationships (Spinzy et al, 2012).…”

“…People with psychosis use the Internet effectively to create social connections enabling the development of both virtual and face-to-face relationships (Spinzy et al, 2012). In addition to the general advantages such as accessibility and the capacity to access a wide array of resources (Fox and Rainie, 2000), people with psychosis resort to the Internet because of the anonymity and absence of a hierarchy on the Web and its potential to assist in overcoming difficulties with social interaction (Schrank et al, 2010).…”