Abstract
BackgroundPrevious research has demonstrated the importance of search engines, websites, online discussion groups and social media groups for women in developed countries looking for health and medical information, but few studies have focused on Australian women. The Australian Women and Digital Health Project was designed to investigate how Australian women from a range of age groups and locations used digital health technologies across the full spectrum available to them. The findings on their use of online information and decision-making in relation to seeking face-to-face medical advice are discussed in this article.MethodsQualitative research, including focus group discussions (24 participants) and face-to-face (12 participants) and telephone (30 participants) semi-structured interviews was conducted with a total of 66 Australian women aged between 21 and 74. The focus groups and interviews were transcribed and analysed using inductive thematic analysis sensitised by a feminist new materialism theoretical standpoint. This involved identifying the dimensions of affordances, relational connections, affective forces and agential capacities in the women’s accounts.ResultsAll participants regularly used online sources to find health information, advice and support. We identified six key agential capacities relating to these ways in which the women enacted online health information seeking: 1) self-screening; 2) preparing for and following up a consultation; 3) selective engagement; 4) caring for others; 5) creating and sharing new information; and 6) challenging medical authority. The affordances of accessibility and convenience of online sources, relational connections between women and trusted sources (both online and offline) and between women and family members on whose behalf they sought information and affective forces such as trust, the need for reassurance and frustration and anger with deficient healthcare services contributed to these capacities.ConclusionsWomen engaged in complex interactions with online information, actively and creatively using it in diverse ways in their negotiations with seeking face-to-face medical expertise. Their online practices generated a set of agential capacities that help them to assess whether they or their family members need medical attention, supplement or challenge the medical advice they have already received or generate and share their own information.
Highlights
Previous research has demonstrated the importance of search engines, websites, online discussion groups and social media groups for women in developed countries looking for health and medical information, but few studies have focused on Australian women
This article investigates how Australian women from a range of age groups and locations use online health information to support their health knowledge and decision-making and how these practices interact with face-to-face practitioner led care
Design and setting The Australian Women and Digital Health Project was designed to investigate the following research questions: What digital technologies do women use regularly for health-related purposes, both for themselves and for any others? Which do they find most and least helpful and useful? What kinds of digital health technologies would they like to see developed in the future?
Summary
Previous research has demonstrated the importance of search engines, websites, online discussion groups and social media groups for women in developed countries looking for health and medical information, but few studies have focused on Australian women. The Australian Women and Digital Health Project was designed to investigate how Australian women from a range of age groups and locations used digital health technologies across the full spectrum available to them The findings on their use of online information and decision-making in relation to seeking face-to-face medical advice are discussed in this article. Search engines – Google Search in particular – are essential tools for finding relevant information online These digital tools and sources contribute to the ideal of the ‘digitally engaged patient’: a lay person who actively seeks out information about health and medical issues using the internet as part of self-empowerment and health literacy efforts [1]. This article investigates how Australian women from a range of age groups and locations use online health information to support their health knowledge and decision-making and how these practices interact with face-to-face practitioner led care
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