Going Online for a second opinion
Aug/25/2008 08:10
Now before any HCP’s get their feathers all ruffled
the survey also shows that a majority of Americans
still view health providers as their most trusted
source of medical information. Hispanics were
significantly less likely to trust healthcare
providers first, choosing to speak to family, friends
and significant others more than other races.
The healthcare marketing and consulting firm Envision Solutions commissioned the research. It is the first in a series of studies the company plans in examining how Americans use interactive technologies, including the Internet, for health. Kelton Research conducted the study from July 17-21, using a nationally representative online survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, 18 or older.
Additional key findings include:
Young people are most likely to be skeptical of medical advice. More than four in 10, or 43 percent of Americans ages 18 to 34, said they doubted their health provider's advice when it conflicted with online sources.
Hispanics are the least likely to rely on authority figures. Thirty-four percent of Hispanics said they would consult their primary healthcare provider first if they were diagnosed with a medical condition, as opposed to 62 percent of whites and 61 percent of African-Americans.
Once-trusted institutions receive low marks. Overall, very few Americans listed institutions such as the government, the media or non-profits as highly credible healthcare information sources.
Besides the young, most do not view patient-generated content as credible. Despite its increasing popularity, only 3 percent of Americans seeking advice about how to manage a serious medical condition would view patient developed online health information as trustworthy. The same amount (3 percent) feel this way about mild medical problems. However, 9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are happy to rely on this type of content for guidance on mild health conditions.
While trust in Internet resources lags, provider-generated online content may be different. Previous research indicates that trust in Internet resources is not widespread. However, this study suggests credibility may be influenced by who is authoring the content.
Thirteen percent of Americans say they would consult medical professional-developed information posted on blogs, online forums or other Web sites first if they believe they have a health condition or disease.
Whose online looking for health information?
Ten percent of internet users say they searched for health information "yesterday," which in a tracking survey like this one yields a picture of the "typical day" online. Health has moved up in the "typical day" list (from 7 percent in 2006 to the current 10 percent of internet users), but for most people the average day includes lots of emails (60 percent of internet users), general searches (49 percent), and news reading (39 percent) if they are online at all (30 percent of internet users are offline on a typical day).
The usual patterns among the basic demographic groups hold true:
68% of online men look online for health info
81% of online women
76% of white internet users
65% of African-American internet users
71% of English-speaking Hispanic internet users (new health data on the whole Latino population is coming out August 13 from the Pew Hispanic Center)
68% of 18-29 year-old internet users
78% of 30-49s
76% of 50-64s
71% of internet users age 65+ (but remember, only one-third of seniors go online at all)
The healthcare marketing and consulting firm Envision Solutions commissioned the research. It is the first in a series of studies the company plans in examining how Americans use interactive technologies, including the Internet, for health. Kelton Research conducted the study from July 17-21, using a nationally representative online survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, 18 or older.
Additional key findings include:
Young people are most likely to be skeptical of medical advice. More than four in 10, or 43 percent of Americans ages 18 to 34, said they doubted their health provider's advice when it conflicted with online sources.
Hispanics are the least likely to rely on authority figures. Thirty-four percent of Hispanics said they would consult their primary healthcare provider first if they were diagnosed with a medical condition, as opposed to 62 percent of whites and 61 percent of African-Americans.
Once-trusted institutions receive low marks. Overall, very few Americans listed institutions such as the government, the media or non-profits as highly credible healthcare information sources.
Besides the young, most do not view patient-generated content as credible. Despite its increasing popularity, only 3 percent of Americans seeking advice about how to manage a serious medical condition would view patient developed online health information as trustworthy. The same amount (3 percent) feel this way about mild medical problems. However, 9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are happy to rely on this type of content for guidance on mild health conditions.
While trust in Internet resources lags, provider-generated online content may be different. Previous research indicates that trust in Internet resources is not widespread. However, this study suggests credibility may be influenced by who is authoring the content.
Thirteen percent of Americans say they would consult medical professional-developed information posted on blogs, online forums or other Web sites first if they believe they have a health condition or disease.
Whose online looking for health information?
Ten percent of internet users say they searched for health information "yesterday," which in a tracking survey like this one yields a picture of the "typical day" online. Health has moved up in the "typical day" list (from 7 percent in 2006 to the current 10 percent of internet users), but for most people the average day includes lots of emails (60 percent of internet users), general searches (49 percent), and news reading (39 percent) if they are online at all (30 percent of internet users are offline on a typical day).
The usual patterns among the basic demographic groups hold true:
68% of online men look online for health info
81% of online women
76% of white internet users
65% of African-American internet users
71% of English-speaking Hispanic internet users (new health data on the whole Latino population is coming out August 13 from the Pew Hispanic Center)
68% of 18-29 year-old internet users
78% of 30-49s
76% of 50-64s
71% of internet users age 65+ (but remember, only one-third of seniors go online at all)
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