Abstract
Parents need information about their children’s health, and the Internet has become an essential repository for this information. However, there is almost no information about which topics are the most searched, consulted, or shared, or about the main characteristics of pediatric website users. The main aim of this research was to describe the profile of the users of a pediatric website, which topics they searched for, which topics were the most consulted, and which were the most shared. Users’ demographic data were analyzed regarding their use of the Internet to search for information about health. A pediatric website for parents was analyzed. A 26-item questionnaire collected demographical features of the users of the website. Descriptive and analytical analyses were performed. Most participants used general search engines for their health searches, and the most searched keywords were prurigo, barking cough, and laryngitis. The most visited topics were unexplained fever, snots, and laryngitis. The most shared were snots, lipotomy, and dizziness. The users were mainly women (67.8%), with an average age of 38.8 years, and one or two children (89%) with a mean age of 4.6 years. The users who mainly used the Internet for health purposes were women of younger age, and with a higher educational level.
Highlights
The main objective of this study was to describe the profile of the users of a pediatric website, written in an easy language and with a simple interface, and to find out what topics they searched for to access the website, what topics they consulted within the website, and what topics they shared with other users
We used a pediatric website for parents, written in Spanish, open access and free, where 338 pediatric topics with information based on scientific evidence about symptoms, diseases, and care of a healthy child, written in simple language by a pediatrician, could be located and consulted
The main objective of this study was to describe the profile of the users of a pediatric website and to find out what topics they searched for to access the website, what topics they consulted within the website, and what topics they shared with other users
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The interest of users in the Internet as a tool for seeking health-related information is growing [1]. Parents need information about their children’s health, and the Internet is a growing resource from which to obtain this information [2]. For this reason, parents are increasingly accessing the web in search of information on health [3,4]. There are no references about the main characteristics of these users and how they may affect the use of health portals [5]
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