Use of the Internet by Prenatal Clients for Health Information and its Consequences

1. Use of the Internet by Prenatal Clients for Health Information and its Consequences Amanda Lai, Lindsay Van Tongeren, Catherine Kline, Angela Towle & William Godolphin Informed Shared Decision Making Project, Division of Health Care Communication, College of Health Disciplines, University of British Columbia • Background • The prenatal period is a time of increased information seeking and decision making. • How prenatal patients use the Internet as a source of health information becomes important as Internet use increases. • Little is known about the way patients use the Internet and the effects that this may have on the health care provider (HCP) – patient relationship and ultimately, health consequences for the patient. • Few studies have been done to characterize Internet usage in the prenatal population. Results Response Rate 121 questionnaires were administered  119 responded  114 were considered complete and included in the analysis Response Rate = 114/121 = 94.2% Patient Demographics Objectives • To conduct an exploratory study, through a questionnaire survey, to describe how prenatal women use the Internet in regards to the following questions: • How important is the Internet relative to other sources of information and how frequently is it used? • What are prenatal patients using the Internet for? • How do prenatal patients feel about sharing on-line health information with their health care provider? • How does on-line health information affect the actions of prenatal patients? • Are there ways to help prenatal patients in finding and using on-line information? • Key Findings • One percent of the prenatal patients indicate that they have no internet access whatsoever. • Prenatal patients areusing the Internet as an additional source of health information. Seventy-seven percent of our patient population with access to the Internet use it at least once a week for information related to their pregnancy. • The major reason why prenatal clients are going on-line is to look for more information on specific topics. • Most prenatal patients report that they often evaluate the quality of online information for their pregnancy; the most common method of doing so appears to be by checking for similar information on more than one website. • Most of the prenatal patients have changed their behaviour as a result of finding on-line health information: had a conversation with a family member or friend (86%), talked to their HCP (79%), visited a HCP (24%) and 29% admitted to making a health decision without consulting a HCP. • The majority of patients feel positive about sharing on-line information with their HCP. In general, they feel more prepared to ask the right questions, but a few reported feeling as if they wasted their HCP’s time or are worried about offending them. • Ninety-nine percent of all patients surveyed indicate some level of interest in using health care websites recommended by their HCP. • Study Design • Location • Douglas College Prenatal Classes, British Columbia Patients • Questionnaires were administered to 141 prenatal patients attending prenatal classes across the Lower Mainland. Methods • A 7 page questionnaire specific to prenatal patients were derived after a thorough literature review was conducted. • Ethics approval was obtained from both the University of British Columbia and Douglas College. • The questionnaire was reviewed by experts and piloted in a group of 20 patients and modified. • The final questionnaire was given to 121 patients. • Data analysis was conducted using SPSS quantitative analytical software and frequency tables and cross tabulations were generated. • CONCLUSIONS • Prenatal patients are a unique population with specific needs in information seeking and gathering. • More research is required to determine the health consequences of prenatal patients who have made a health decision based on on-line information without consulting their HCP. • Having access to on-line health information seems to be beneficial for most prenatal patients in their interactions with their HCP. • Prenatal patients are interested in having a list of recommended websites from their HCP to ensure that they obtain accurate and reliable health information related to their pregnancy.