Gender Differences in The Use of Internet for Health Information Search

Abstract

Demand for health related information is expanding. People seeking health information have many options today. Internet is becoming an important source of information for health related activities in recent years because of its convenience and large capacity. The use of Internet in Turkey increased dramatically from 13 percent users in 2004 to 30 percent in 2009. National survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2007 shows that 37 percent of Turkish people used the Internet for online health related information. Once consumers enter the domain of electronic health care information, the issue becomes determining the quality of the available information. How do consumers perceive the quality of online health information? This study addresses gender differences in Turkish consumer’s perceptions regarding the quality of electronic health information on web sites. Research results showed that males and females differ by their e-health information quality perceptions. Main discriminating issues of males and females are related to helpfulness and safety of the online health information. Females are found to have higher e-health information quality perception than males