Abstract
BackgroundThe quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, specifically in relation to children who do not make their health decisions. The aim of this study was to understand the processes explaining parents’ decisions to use online health information for child health care.MethodsParents (N = 391) completed an initial questionnaire assessing the theory of planned behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, as well as perceived risk, group norm, and additional demographic factors. Two months later, 187 parents completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing their decisions to use online information for their child’s health care, specifically to 1) diagnose and/or treat their child’s suspected medical condition/illness and 2) increase understanding about a diagnosis or treatment recommended by a health professional.ResultsHierarchical multiple regression showed that, for both behaviours, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, (less) perceived risk, group norm, and (non) medical background were the significant predictors of intention. For parents’ use of online child health information, for both behaviours, intention was the sole significant predictor of behaviour. The findings explain 77% of the variance in parents’ intention to treat/diagnose a child health problem and 74% of the variance in their intentions to increase their understanding about child health concerns.ConclusionsUnderstanding parents’ socio-cognitive processes that guide their use of online information for child health care is important given the increase in Internet usage and the sometimes-questionable quality of health information provided online. Findings highlight parents’ thirst for information; there is an urgent need for health professionals to provide parents with evidence-based child health websites in addition to general population education on how to evaluate the quality of online health information.
Highlights
The quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, in relation to children who do not make their health decisions
Rather than the previous focus on identifying differences between users and non-users, sites explored, and types of information sought, there is a need to examine systematically the processes underlying parents’ decisions to use online health information for their child’s health care. This study addresses this gap in the literature by using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) [19] to understand the determinants of parents’ decisions to use online health information to diagnose and/or treat their child’s health issues and to increase understanding about their child’s diagnosis or treatment
Regression analyses predicting intention A hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting parents’ intentions to use child health information from the Internet to diagnose/treat their child’s suspected medical condition/illness showed that the Step 1 TPB variables accounted for 76% of the variance in intentions, F(3, 352) = 365.71, p
Summary
The quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, in relation to children who do not make their health decisions. The increase in Australian household Internet access from 16% in 1998 to 73% with broadband access in 2011 may be associated with the seemingly parallel increase in parents using online child health information [4,5]. The rapid increase in, and use of, online health information has no corresponding increase in the quality of available material which can be biased and there is little control over the timeliness of updates [6,7,8]. A more recent Australian study found the Internet to be the least trusted child health information source, reported by 9% of parents [1]. The incongruence in these studies requires further exploration
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