Abstract

Background

The internet has become a common source of health information; however, little is known about online health information-seeking behaviour (HISB) among patients in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Objectives

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of online health information-seeking and its associated factors among patients in primary care in Malaysia. We also examined the reasons for, and the sources of, online health information-seeking, patients’ level of trust in the information found and what the information was used for.

Methods

A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted on patients who attended a primary care clinic. The questionnaire included the use of the internet to seek health information, sources and types of health information, eHealth literacy, patients’ trust in online information, and how patients appraise and use online health information.

Results

Out of 381 patients in this study, 54.7% (n = 208) used the internet to search for health information. Patients mainly sought information via Google (96.2%) and the most common websites that they visited were Wikipedia (45.2%) and MyHEALTH (37.5%). Higher levels of education, longer duration of internet use, and higher eHealth literacy were significantly associated with online HISB. Patients’ trust in websites (45.6%) and social media (20.7%) was low when compared to trust in healthcare professionals (87.9%). Only 12.9% (n = 22) of patients had discussed online health information with their doctors.

Conclusion

Online HISB was common among primary care patients; however, their eHealth literacy was low, with suboptimal appraisal skills to evaluate the accuracy of online health information.

中文翻译：

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马来西亚初级保健诊所患者的在线健康信息寻求行为：一项横断面研究

摘要

背景

互联网已成为健康信息的常见来源；然而，对于低收入和中等收入国家 (LMIC) 患者的在线健康信息寻求行为 (HISB) 知之甚少。

目标

本研究旨在确定马来西亚初级保健患者中在线健康信息寻求的流行程度及其相关因素。我们还检查了在线健康信息寻求的原因和来源、患者对所找到信息的信任程度以及这些信息的用途。

方法

对就诊于初级保健诊所的患者进行了一项使用自我问卷调查的横断面研究。问卷包括使用互联网寻找健康信息、健康信息的来源和类型、电子健康素养、患者对在线信息的信任以及患者如何评价和使用在线健康信息。

结果

在这项研究的 381 名患者中，54.7%（n = 208）使用互联网搜索健康信息。患者主要通过谷歌 (96.2%) 搜索信息，他们访问的最常见网站是维基百科 (45.2%) 和 MyHEALTH (37.5%)。较高的教育水平、较长的互联网使用时间和较高的电子健康素养与在线 HISB 显着相关。与对医疗保健专业人员的信任度（87.9%）相比，患者对网站（45.6%）和社交媒体（20.7%）的信任度较低。只有 12.9% ( n = 22) 的患者曾与医生讨论过在线健康信息。

结论

在线 HISB 在初级保健患者中很常见；然而，他们的电子健康素养很低，评估在线健康信息准确性的评估技能欠佳。