Abstract
BackgroundE-health users are encouraged to consult healthcare professionals about the health information they found online because it facilitates e-health users to participate in an informed decision-making process with healthcare professionals on treatment options. However, few studies have examined the path of how e-health users consult healthcare professionals about the health information. Using psychological empowerment, which claims that empowering individuals requires understanding contextual factors that interact with the individuals’ intrapsychic factors, this study tested a hypothesis: the contextual factors play an indirect role between patients’ perceived poor health and their consultations with healthcare professionals about the health information found online, holding predisposing factors constant.MethodsThe data were collected from the Health Information National Trends Survey and used a subsample of e-health users who used healthcare services during the past year. The subsample (N = 2,297) was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).ResultsThe SEM analysis supported the hypothesized indirect model. Meanwhile, patients with low socioeconomic statuses tended to score high in the outcome measurement of the contextual factors; however, they tended not to consult professionals.ConclusionsIt is important to acknowledge contextual factors, which encompass communication and relational aspects as well as the process and outcomes of treatments, when empowering e-health users to use e-health tools meaningfully and become empowered in caring for their own health. Particularly, those with low income and education levels were the less powered or powerless patients: they tended not to be competent in having a voice and discussing the health information that they found online with professionals.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1713-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
E-health users are encouraged to consult healthcare professionals about the health information they found online because it facilitates e-health users to participate in an informed decision-making process with healthcare professionals on treatment options
E-health users are encouraged to consult healthcare professionals about the health information that they find online in order to achieve the ultimate goals of health empowerment
8 % of the sample reported ‘fair’ or ‘very poor’ as their perception of their empowerment. Those individuals who talked to healthcare professionals about the health information that they found online were 35.3 % of the sample
Summary
E-health users are encouraged to consult healthcare professionals about the health information they found online because it facilitates e-health users to participate in an informed decision-making process with healthcare professionals on treatment options. Autonomous searches for healthcare information are important in health empowerment as they help individuals acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to care for their own health and participate in an informed decision-making process with healthcare professionals on treatment options [1,2,3]. E-health users are encouraged to consult healthcare professionals about the health information that they find online in order to achieve the ultimate goals of health empowerment. Approximately 59 % of the US population self-diagnosed medical conditions on the Internet in 2013; only 53 % of these individuals talked to their physicians about the information [17]
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