Dear Neasa,
Below you will find the results of my research regarding the use of
the internet for health related reasons.
According to a the NFO CFgroup study 75% of Canadian Internet users
use the Web to search for health-related information.
?Two in ten Canadian Net users say they have asked their doctor to
prescribe them medication they researched online or saw on
television.?
?50% of online Canadians claim that researching health information on
the Internet makes them better able to discuss treatment options with
their physician.?
?Over 50 percent of Canadian Internet users research prescription
medications online after visiting a doctor, while 13 percent do so
before consulting their general practitioner.?
?Six in ten Internet users in Canada feel comfortable using drugs that
their doctors recommend regardless of whether they read negative
reports about the drugs on the Net.?
?19 percent of Online Canadians say they would be likely to stop
taking prescribed medications based on negative reports found online.?
Most visited Canadian heath websites:
- Official Health Canada website
- Health sections of Sympatico.ca
- Health sections of Yahoo.ca
Top medical conditions researched online by Canadians:
- Depression,
- Arthritis
- Diabetes.
- Allergies
- Migraine headaches
- Heart conditions
NFO CFgroup
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358180&rel=true
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According to a study from Datamonitor, 57 percent of respondents from
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the U.S. had consulted
Internet sources when looking for health information.
?General health sites and sites run by governments or institutions are
considered more credible than those run by pharmaceutical firms,
because they are seen to be more objective.?
NUA Internet Surveys
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358381&rel=true
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From an Ipsos-Reid?s Canadian Interactive Report:
?Searching For Online Health Information the Number One Online Activity in Canada.?
?Two-Thirds Of All Online Canadians Have Visited A Health Website, Up
From 55% In 2000.?
?A larger proportion of online Canadians have visited a health website
than those who have sent joke emails (59%), used instant messaging
(54%), conducted online banking (49%), comparison shopped (45%) or who
have purchased something online (43%). ?
(..)
?66% of those who have visited a health site do so on a monthly basis,
and a smaller proportion (22%) browse weekly.?
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Demographics
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Visited an online health site:
Women 76%
Men 56%
Age groups
?This is the only the second online activity (next to purchasing
online) where the participation rate among the 55 and older group
(64%) is close to the 35?54 year old group (67%), and the 18?34 year
old group (67%). In fact, it is the number one activity among this age
group by far.?
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Growth
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According to Steve Mossop, Senior Vice President at Ipsos-Reid, online
health information is growing in popularity more rapidly than other
categories.
He states ?It?s not surprising, considering that healthcare is the
number one issue that Canadians are concerned about in our monthly
national issues poll. What is surprising though, is the depth, and the
breadth of the interest in this category among online Canadians.?
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Most popular websites
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81% - websites that provide information on diseases, prevention and cures,
51% - nutrition information
35% - prescription drug information sites,
29% - exercise sites
13% - support group websites.
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Trends
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?Canadians are becoming more active participants in their own health.
The Internet is helping Canadians to feel less like patients and more
like informed consumers.?
Ipsos-Reid
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=1696&content=full
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From the Ipsos-Reid Study:
?Physicians appear to be reluctant to encourage their patients to
embrace the ?net, as only 11% of Internet users indicate that their
physician encourages them to use the Internet to search for medical
information. A separate study of physicians conducted for the Medical
Post this past summer indicated that 91% of doctors are suspicious
about the quality of health information that is available on the net,
and a further 24% actually
believe the ?net is doing more harm than good for their patients.?
?When asked about their favorite health-related website, answers were
diverse, with no one particular site capturing more than 2% of
mentions. The most popular websites are WebMD followed by the Mayo
clinic?s Website and Realage.com.?
Attitudes
See page 2 of this publication for attitudes of Canadians towards
online health information at the following link.
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/act_hit_cntr.cfm?id=1119&PDF_name=mr001119_1.pdf
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Here are a few relevant excerpts from a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) survey:
?BC residents were the most likely to have looked for online health
information (28%), followed closely by residents of Ontario and
Alberta. Quebecers were least likely (14%). ?
?Although 96% of those who searched indicated that it is easy to find
information and it tended to be presented in a manner that was easily
understood, 79% felt that it is hard to know which information can be
trusted. ?
?According to the survey, which was conducted in the spring of 2000,
Canadians aged 65 and over are least likely to have used the Internet
in the past year (7%, compared with 72% of those aged 15?24 and 56% of
those aged 25?44). However, seniors who are connected are more likely
to seek health information than younger Canadians (55%, versus 31% for
those aged 15?24 and 51% for those aged 25?44). Women who use the
Internet are more likely than men to search for health information
(47% versus 36%). ?
CMAJ
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/10/1328-a
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The Canadian Online Health Monitor study found that online Canadians are quite
positive about the Internet?s role in health care.
?Almost three-quarters believe that the Internet offers access to a
wide range of valuable health-related information.?
?Only 31 percent of online Canadians think that prescription drugs
should be sold online in Canada, and 55 percent are opposed.?
NFO WorldGroup
http://www.nfocfgroup.com/news/01.08.23-cohm.pdf
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?Canadians are most interested in getting healthy and staying healthy.
Information related to diet and nutrition, fitness and general health
knowledge is most frequently accessed. But this varied by age and sex.
Younger Canadians, in particular, seem most interested in topics such
as fitness and nutrition, whereas older Canadians are more likely to
get information about specific medical conditions and treatments.
Women may be more informed than their male counterparts as,
overwhelmingly, females were more likely to collect health-related
information in the course of a year.?
(..)
?Almost one-third of the respondents who rely on the Internet for
health information have used it for self-diagnosis. Another one-third
go on-line to confirm or dispute a physician's diagnosis. Nonetheless,
it also appears that patients are discussing information they find
on-line with their doctor. Thirty-eight percent of those who got
information from the Internet talked to their doctor about it.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers? recent HealthCast 2010 report, 10
to 15% of all patient visits with general practitioners involve
patients who have already consulted sources on the Internet. A survey
by the Canadian Medical Association found 86% of physicians had been
presented with information found on the Internet by their patients.?
The Changing Dynamics of the Patient-Provider Relationship
http://www.can.ibm.com/speakersbureau/downloads/mcmurchy_hospital_quarterly_jan_15.doc
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Study: How Adolescents Use Technology for Health Information:
Implications for Health Professionals from Focus Group Studies
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
?Objective: To describe how adolescents use technology for their
health-information needs, identify the challenges they face, and
highlight some emerging roles of health professionals regarding
eHealth services for adolescents.?
?Results: Study participants most-frequently sought or distributed
information related to school (89%), interacting with friends (85%),
social concerns (85%), specific medical conditions (67%), body image
and nutrition (63%), violence and personal safety (59%), and sexual
health (56%). Finding personally-relevant, high-quality information
was a pivotal challenge that has ramifications on the depth and types
of information that adolescents can find to answer their health
questions.?
Journal of Medical Internet Research
http://www.jmir.org/2003/4/e32/
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Examples of fee-for-service health care information
---------------------------------------------------
Advance Therapy
Consult-DrMinas
http://www.consultdrminas.com/?p=main&l=eng
Ask the Bone Specialist
Consult with the expert. Get a second opinion on your orthopedic
diagnosis and needs.
http://www.emedicalbooksonline.com/ask/askorthopedist.htm
AskTheDr.com
Ask the doctor any medical question. Get answers instantly. Dr. Gary Kramer, MD.
http://216.218.196.146/askthedr/index.htm
Consult Doctors
Fee-based medical consultation service offers confidential health
advice and information.
http://www.consultdrs.com
DocByWeb
http://www.docbyweb.com/index.asp?func=chat&SessionID=
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Fee Based Physician Information
===============================
Health Grades
Check Doctor Quality
Access critical doctor performance information such as certifications
and disciplinary actions.
www.healthgrades.com
Choice Trust
Conduct an instant national search for doctors, dentists,
chiropractors and nurses across several specialty areas. Check out
their credentials, including general contact information, education
and license details.
Nearly 100,000 sanctions and disciplinary actions exist for health
care providers throughout the country. Before entrusting your health
and your family's health to a health care provider, confirm the
provider you selected has an active license and clean credential
history. http://www.choicetrust.com/servlet/com.kx.cs.servlets.CsServlet?channel=health&product=doctor&subproduct=search&anchor=
Investigate your Doctor
?Information is gathered from over 70 primary sources including the
Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human
Services, Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as every medical
and osteopathic board in the United States.?
http://www.investigateyourdoctor.com/
Second Opinion Medical
An Information & Physician Verification Service
http://www.physicians-background.com/background.html
Doctor Background Check
http://www.knowx.com/doctor/search.jsp?userid=guest&password=welcome
Dentist Background Check
http://www.knowx.com/dentist/search.jsp?userid=guest&password=welcome
Alternative Medicine Foundation Fee-based Information Services
?Our Information Specialist can make customized searches for
individual cases. We request a $25 donation to the foundation to cover
the cost of individual searches. Searches that take more than 30
minutes will be charged at $50 an hour.?
?AskMed is a fee-based service. People with chronic illnesses,
complicated situations involving many types of therapy and medicines,
and confusions between conventional and alternative treatments, often
need professional help in unraveling the information and deciding on
the right course of action for them.?
Alternative Medicine Foundation
http://www.amfoundation.org/freeandfee.htm
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Here is a fee-based reports regarding the way online Canadians manage
their health online
?The Internet has influenced considerably the way online Canadians
manage their health. This module focuses on patterns of online health
information gathering in terms of types of information, motivation,
Web sites perceived as relevant, and numbers of sites visited.?
?The report provides a comprehensive understanding of how online
Canadians find and use the health-related information available on the
Internet, who they trust, and to what extent that information
influences their health-related behavior. The report follows the
emergence of the Web as a health resource and the potential for
e-health development.?
http://www.nfocfgroup.com/services/syndicated-interactive-sotn-health.html
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?cat_id=105&report_id=428
Search terms used:
Canadians online health information
Online Activity health information Canada OR Canadians
Survey OR report online health site:.ca
Online health Canada demographics of users
Consumers Internet use for health care site:.ca
I hope you find this information useful!
Best regards,
Bobbie7 |
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