How do healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information? A qualitative study using cognitive interviews.

Olga C Damman,Diana M J Delnoij,Peter P Groenewegen,Jany Rademakers,Michelle Hendriks

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-423

Abstract

BackgroundTo date, online public healthcare reports have not been effectively used by consumers. Therefore, we qualitatively examined how healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information on the Internet.MethodsUsing semi-structured cognitive interviews, interviewees (n = 20) were asked to think aloud and answer questions, as they were prompted with three Dutch web pages providing comparative healthcare information.ResultsWe identified twelve themes from consumers' thoughts and evaluations. These themes were categorized under four important areas of interest: (1) a response to the design; (2) a response to the information content; (3) the use of the information, and (4) the purpose of the information.ConclusionSeveral barriers to an effective use of comparative healthcare information were identified, such as too much information and the ambiguity of terms presented on websites. Particularly important for future research is the question of how comparative healthcare information can be integrated with alternative information, such as patient reviews on the Internet. Furthermore, the readability of quality of care concepts is an issue that needs further attention, both from websites and communication experts.

Highlights

Today I will show you information about the quality of healthcare on the internet
We performed semi-structured cognitive interviews with consumers, who were prompted with existing Dutch comparative healthcare information on a computer screen
Cognitive interviewing is a technique for investigating thought processes people use as they sort through information and make decisions [32]

Summary

Introduction

Today I will show you information about the quality of healthcare on the internet. We would like to hear your reaction to the information.The purpose of the interview is to let you 'think aloud'. Today I will show you information about the quality of healthcare on the internet. Online public healthcare reports have not been effectively used by consumers. We qualitatively examined how healthcare consumers process and evaluate comparative healthcare information on the Internet. Following the increased emphasis on transparency and consumer choice in healthcare, much effort has been made to publicly report healthcare performance. Comparative healthcare information should be effectively adopted and used by healthcare consumers. There is some evidence that people, unsatisfied or new consumers on the healthcare market, are interested in the (page number not for citation purposes). Several studies have shown that publishing information on healthcare performance has had little impact on consumers' use of it [57]. One of the explanations for this lack of use considers that online performance information may be poorly constructed and unadjusted to human information processing strategies [8,9,10]

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