Abstract
BackgroundIn the new media age, the public searches for information both online and offline. Many studies have examined how the public reads and understands this information but very few investigate how people assess the quality of journalistic articles as opposed to information generated by health professionals.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine how public health care workers (HCWs) and the general public seek, read, and understand health information and to investigate the criteria by which they assess the quality of journalistic articles.MethodsA Web-based nonprobability sampling questionnaire survey was distributed to Israeli HCWs and members of the public via 3 social media outlets: Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. A total of 979 respondents participated in the online survey via the Qualtrics XM platform.ResultsThe findings indicate that HCWs find academic articles more reliable than do members of the general public (44.4% and 28.4%, respectively, P<.001). Within each group, we found disparities between the places where people search for information and the sources they consider reliable. HCWs consider academic articles to be the most reliable, yet these are not their main information sources. In addition, HCWs often use social networks to search for information (18.2%, P<.001), despite considering them very unreliable (only 2.2% found them reliable, P<.001). The same paradoxes were found among the general public, where 37.5% (P<.001) seek information via social networks yet only 8.4% (P<.001) find them reliable. Out of 6 quality criteria, 4 were important both to HCWs and to the general public.ConclusionsIn the new media age where information is accessible to all, the quality of articles about health is of critical importance. It is important that the criteria examined in this research become the norm in health writing for all stakeholders who write about health, whether they are professional journalists or citizen journalists writing in the new media.
Highlights
Searching for Web-Based Health Information In the last decade, the internet has become a powerful instrument for searching for health information because it provides the opportunity to access information from varied and diverse sources [1]
Behavioral Intentions Following Exposure to Health Information: General Public Versus Health Care Workers Respondents were asked about the extent to which they would change their behavior after receiving health information of personal importance: “If you encounter health information that seems important to you, to what extent would you change your behavior following your exposure to this information?” The research findings indicate that more than half the health care worker (HCW) and more than half the respondents from the general public reported they would change their behavior to a large or very large extent (Table 3)
The findings indicate that HCWs focus their search for health information on health organization sites and in academic articles, whereas the general public tends to search more on social networks and Web-based newspapers
Summary
Searching for Web-Based Health Information In the last decade, the internet has become a powerful instrument for searching for health information because it provides the opportunity to access information from varied and diverse sources [1]. An analysis of global internet use indicates that Israelis are second among the top ten countries worldwide in time spent online among individuals age fifteen or above [3]. As for science and health-related information, Israelis exhibit high levels of interest in science, with 62% of the public stating that knowing about science and technology in their everyday life is a necessity [6]. A recent study of otolaryngology patients found that Israelis turn to the internet as a source of health information significantly more than to books or newspapers [8]. Many studies have examined how the public reads and understands this information but very few investigate how people assess the quality of journalistic articles as opposed to information generated by health professionals
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