Online Healthcare Information Research Articles

An interactive website to aid young women’s choice of contraception: feasibility and efficacy RCT

Background Effective use of contraception can reduce numbers of unintended pregnancies, but misunderstandings and concerns about contraception abound. Increasingly, women seek health-care information online. Objectives To develop an interactive website to aid informed choice of contraceptive method, including long-acting reversible contraception (Phase I), and test its effectiveness in a parallel, single-blind randomised trial (Phase II). Approval came from London – Camden & King’s Cross Research Ethics Committee (reference 17/LO/0112). Setting and participants For both phases, women aged 15–30 years were recruited from general practice, sexual health services, maternity services, community pharmacies and an abortion service. Design In Phase I, we conducted three systematic literature reviews, a review of YouTube (YouTube, LLC, San Bruno, CA, USA) videos about contraception, and focus groups and interviews with young women to explore barriers to and concerns and misperceptions about contraception. We then iteratively co-designed an interactive website, Contraception Choices [URL: www.contraceptionchoices.org (accessed June 2020)], with young women and a software company. In Phase II, we evaluated the website through a randomised trial that began as a feasibility trial. Early demand for Contraception Choices stimulated a design change from a feasibility to an efficacy trial, with follow-up for clinical outcomes at 3 and 6 months. A randomisation list was incorporated into the trial software program to allocate participants to the intervention (website) or control group (standard care). Intervention Contraception Choices is a co-designed, evidence-based, interactive website to aid informed choice of contraception. It provides information about different methods, addresses common concerns and offers tailored contraceptive options in response to individual preferences. Main outcome measures Qualitative – participant views and experience of the intervention, assessed through qualitative interviews. Quantitative primary outcomes – follow-up rate at 6 months in the initial feasibility trial, using a long-acting reversible contraception method, and satisfaction with contraceptive method at 6 months in the efficacy trial. Results A total of 927 women were randomised online to the website (n = 464) or control group (n = 463), of whom 739 (80%) provided follow-up data at 6 months [786 women (85%) provided data at 3 and/or 6 months that were included in the analysis of primary outcomes]. There was little difference between groups in the proportion using long-acting reversible contraception at 6 months [30.4% intervention vs. 31.0% control, adjusted odds ratio after imputation 0.87 (95% confidence interval 0.60 to 1.27)] or in satisfaction with contraceptive method [proportion being ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’, 82.6% intervention vs. 82.1% control, adjusted odds ratio 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.69 to 1.25)]. Qualitative evaluation indicated highly positive views about the website and increased knowledge of contraceptive methods that could dispel misperceptions. Women appreciated having information tailored to their specific needs and felt better prepared before consultations. Limitations We did not include intermediate measures, such as knowledge of contraceptive methods, intention to change method or confidence in discussing contraception with a health-care professional, which may have indicated other benefits of using the website. In future, the website should be studied in different settings (e.g. schools and in routine practice) to see whether or not it improves the quality or efficiency of contraceptive consultations. Conclusions Our systematic review indicated wide-ranging influences on women’s use of contraception globally. The website, Contraception Choices, was very popular with young women and contraception service providers. It was not associated with statistically significant differences in use of long-acting reversible contraception or satisfaction with contraceptive method at 6 months. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN13247829. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 56. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Understanding Millennial Moms' Choices: A Nursing Survey About Childbirth Education in Primigravid Women.

Primigravid women, at some point, feel the need to gain education about childbirth. Our objective was to identify where primigravid millennial moms are seeking their childbirth education. This study, a quantitative nonexperimental survey research, was designed within the context of developmental transition theory. Childbearing women were recruited, considering the phenomenon to be studied. This purposive sample of 100 participants included primigravid millennial mothers (born between 1978 and 1994), status post vaginal birth, or emergent cesarean surgery, on a 455-bed, acute care facility. All participants were able to speak, understand, and read English or Spanish fluently. The author used a self-report survey to collect data from the participants. Primigravid women responded to a series of questions posed by the investigator. Considering the participants' variety of reading levels and their ability to communicate in writing, special attention was given to the simplicity and clarity of the questions on the survey. The responses provided by the participants suggested the need to enhance current childbirth education into culturally friendly and evidence-based technological information. Websites, apps, and social media are important information channels to reach and disseminate valuable childbirth education for millennial primigravid women. However, these channels are not currently being used to their full potential, considering the amount of information available and lack of guidance and clarity to disseminate trustworthy health-care information. By understanding millennial moms' choices, we gain the opportunity to deliver better education and support to Internet savvy women who are seeking online health-care information.

Evaluation of the Online-Presence of ABA-Verified Burn Centers.

Currently, patients seek healthcare information online. An up-to-date online presence is vital for success among the competition amid hospitals. Hospital websites have become an important medium to communicate with patients, provide information about certain diseases/conditions, and advertise healthcare services. This study aims to evaluate burn centers websites verified by the American Burn Association (ABA). The online presence of the 73 ABA-verified burn centers was evaluated according to criteria previously published by Benedikt et al. This included general information on burns, first aid, treatment at the burn unit, research, and education. ABA-verified burn centers were then compared with 48 German-speaking burn centers evaluated by Benedikt et al. Online information about patient care including treatment options and techniques was more often present in ABA-verified burn centers. However, this information was still provided in only half of the websites. Furthermore, ABA-verified burn centers more often used multimedia-based elements and social media platforms. On the other hand, German-speaking burn centers more often provided translations, general information (eg, staff and ward) about the burn center, as well as research and education. This study demonstrates that although many burn centers have well-designed websites, relevant burn-related information on patient care, research, and education is often missing or sparse. Today, most patients look for healthcare information online. Also, applicants for residency or fellowship programs tend to get a first picture of their potential employer on websites or social media. Keeping websites and social media up-to-date and informative can improve recruitment of patients and employees.

Associations Between Chinese Immigrant Women’s Social Network Use and Cancer Screening Behavior [25F

INTRODUCTION: Increasing use of social media has changed how patients obtain healthcare information, with over 90% of residents in China interacting with healthcare information online. These social media preferences likely persist in the Chinese-American population, who have amongst the lowest cancer screening prevalence among ethnic minorities in the United States. We hypothesize that health-seeking behaviors and use of social media will predict up-to-date breast and cervical cancer screening in a cohort of Chinese immigrant women. Findings may guide future outreach efforts. METHODS: Survey data was collected for 732 Chinese women living in Chicago’s Chinatown area from 2013 to 2018 who participated in a patient navigation program. Questions included sociodemographic information, self-reported healthcare utilization and health information-seeking behaviors. RESULTS: Most respondents (60%) were aged 50 or older, had less than a college education (92%), and an annual income <$20,000 (55%). Nearly all (94%) spoke Chinese, and over 80% had public or no insurance. 44% have sought out health information, with the majority using the Internet. Of participants who responded to social network questions, 71% reported using social media, 55% of whom reported looking to contacts for health opinions and information. Seeking health information was associated with receiving appropriate Papanicolaou (within 5 years) and mammogram screening (within 2 years; all P<.05), whereas using social media trended towards receiving appropriate mammogram screening (P=.08). CONCLUSION: As healthcare-seeking behavior and use of social media are associated with improved cervical and breast cancer screening, leveraging use of social media networks may help increase cancer screening behaviors in the Chinese-American population.

Attitudes towards elastic language in Australian online healthcare information

Abstract Based on questionnaire data in response to six excerpts of Australian online health information, this study investigates university students’ attitudes towards elastic language (EL). The findings show that averaging all six cases a neutral attitude is found, with no strong preference for EL or non-EL. This indicates that it is unnecessary to deliberately use more or less EL – the key is to use EL appropriately when and where it is needed. Examining the reasons for participants’ choices, we identify ten frames. Often the same EL generated positive and negative comments: a phenomenon that can be explained in terms of two sides of a frame. The findings may help healthcare professionals to deliver medical information in ways most accessible to the public and to find effective ways of communicating uncertainty. A ‘one fits all’ rule for language use does not exist, and instead multiple standards guide our use of it.

Information outreach interventions to promote the information access, use and exchange in the rural areas of Pakistan

PurposeThis study is a part of the doctoral dissertation that proposes concrete measures to improve health-care information outreach program for rural health-care professionals in primary and secondary health care in Punjab, Pakistan. This study aims to report on the barriers to accessing and using online health-care information from rural settings of the Punjab province of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey was conducted in primary and secondary health-care settings in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The study’s population consisted of the rural primary care physicians (PCPs), who were geographically dispersed across 2,873 different remote health-care settings across Punjab. These practice settings included 2,455 basic health units, 293 rural health centers, 89 tehsil headquarter hospitals and 36 district headquarter hospitals.FindingsLimited internet access, non-availability of required equipment and lack of training facilities were identified as the main barriers. PCPs’ gender, previous enrollment in post-graduation programs and type of health-care facility were significant factors in the perceived barriers related to both “non-availability of required equipment” and “inadequate training facilities on the use of information resources”.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study hold some important practical implications for different stakeholders. This study identifies and addresses the barriers to accessing and using health-care information for PCPs in rural settings. The success of the health-care information outreach program in Punjab, Pakistan, should rely on the eradication of these barriers.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first large-scale study in Pakistan that assesses the barriers and proposes ways to overcome these barriers to effectively access and use health-care information.

781 Evaluation of the online-presence of ABA-verified burn centers

Abstract Introduction Currently, patients seek health-care information online. An up-to-date online presence is vital for success among the competition amid hospitals. Hospital websites have become an important medium to communicate with patients, provide information about certain diseases/conditions and advertise healthcare services. This study aims to evaluate burn centers websites verified by the American Burn Association (ABA). Methods The online presence of the 73 ABA-verified burn centers was evaluated according to criteria previously published by Benedikt et al. This included general information on burns, first aid, treatment at the burn unit, research, and education. ABA verified burn centers were then compared to 48 German-speaking burn centers evaluated by Benedikt et al. Results Online information about patient care including treatment options and techniques was more often present in ABA-verified burn centers. However, this information was still provided in only half of the websites. Furthermore, ABA-verified burn centers more often used multimedia-based elements and social media platforms. On the other hand, German-speaking burn centers more often provided translations, general information (e.g. staff, ward) about the burn center as well as research and education. Conclusions This study demonstrates that although many burn centers have well-designed websites, relevant burn-related information on patient care, research and education is often missing or sparse. Today, most patients look for health-care information online. Also, applicants for residency or fellowship programs tend to get a first picture of their potential employer on websites or social media. Applicability of Research to Practice Keeping websites and social media up-to-date and informative can improve recruitment of patients and employees.

Equipping Learners to Evaluate Online Health Care Resources: Longitudinal Study of Learning Design Strategies in a Health Care Massive Open Online Course.

BackgroundThe digital revolution has led to a boom in the number of available online health care resources. To navigate these resources successfully, digital literacy education is required. Learners who can evaluate the reliability and validity of online health care information are likely to be more effective at avoiding potentially dangerous misinformation. In addition to providing health care education, massive open online courses (MOOCs) are well positioned to play a role in providing digital literacy education in this context.ObjectiveThis study focused on learners enrolled in a MOOC on cancer genomics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a series of digital literacy–related activities within this course. This was an iterative study, with changes made to digital literacy–related activities in 4 of the 8 runs of the course.MethodsThis mixed methods study focused on learner engagement with the digital literacy–related activities, including the final course written assignment. Quantitative data including the number of references listed in each written assignment were compared between successive runs. Qualitative data in the form of learner comments on discussion forums for digital literacy–related tasks were evaluated to determine the impact of these educational activities.ResultsUsing the number of references included for each final course assignment as an indicator of digital literacy skills, the digital literacy–related activities in the final 2 runs were judged to be the most successful. We found a statistically significant increase in the number of references cited by learners in their final written assignments. The average number of references cited in Run 8 was significantly higher (3.5) than in Run 1 (1.8) of the MOOC (P=.001). Learner comments in Runs 7 and 8 showed that a poll in which learners were asked to select which of 4 online resources was reliable was effective in stimulating learner discussion about how to evaluate resource reliability.ConclusionsSimilar to many health care MOOCs, the course studied here had a heterogeneous group of learners, including patients (and their families), the public, health care students, and practitioners. Carefully designing a range of digital literacy–related activities that would be beneficial to this heterogenous group of learners enabled learners to become more effective at evaluating and citing appropriate online resources within their written assignments.

Measures of self-efficacy among doctors in conducting an online search for clinical decision making.

To measure the perceived ability and level of confidence among doctors in performing the different tasks involved in conducting an online search for clinical decision making. A large-scale cross-sectional survey was conducted in 36 District Headquarter Hospitals (DHQs), 89 Tehsil Headquarter Hospitals (THQs), 293 Rural Health Centers (RHCs) and 2455 Basic Health Units (BHUs) in Punjab, Pakistan. Using a quota sampling, data were collected from 517 doctors on a set of 11 statements. The collected data were analysed statistically. Of the 517 doctors, 73 (14.1%) had 'never accessed health care information online' for clinical decision making. Mean values of the doctors' response to the 11 statements ranged from 1.66 to 2.30 indicating that most of the doctors were 'not confident' in their ability to perform the tasks. The majority of doctors perceived themselves able to perform the different tasks involved in conducting an online search. Age and working experience were significant factors in the perception of their ability in performing the tasks. The study recommends promotional and educational activities to motivate interest, increase awareness, develop knowledge and skills for doctors to access information that would help in their clinical decision making.

Systematic review of online patient resources to support shared decision making for bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for obesity and the associated comorbidities but carries a number of important risks. The Royal College of Surgeons advises patients to utilise online resources as part of the shared decision-making process. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of online materials on bariatric surgery. A systematic review was performed of online healthcare information relating to bariatric surgery. Common search terms were entered into three main search engines according to a defined search strategy. Websites were assessed according to readability (Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score), quality and content (DISCERN and IPDAS Scores) and standards of accreditation (HONcode and Information Standard Certification). This systematic review was registered on the PROSPERO database CRD42019132188. The average readability of all sources extracted was higher than that recommended for patient literature. Over half the studies contained had received HONcode or Information Standard accreditation, suggesting a quality marker for the content. On grading of quality and content, across validated scoring tools, no source achieved the minimum recommended level. Patient information online related to bariatric surgery is of poor quality. Such resources require improvement to aid in the shared decision-making process.

Determining Health Information Technology Use by the Transgender Population: A Scoping Review

Background: Transgender people face many potential barriers in healthcare, such as real or perceived discrimination, inability to pay for healthcare services, and misinformation about transgender health needs. It has been hypothesized that, because of these barriers, transgender people may be more receptive to using health information technology than other populations. The purpose of this scoping review was to understand the ways transgender people use health information technology.
 Methods: This scoping review included English studies that addressed use of technology by transgender people in health sciences literature. The inclusion criteria was studies that documented transgender technology use and did not include studies that only focused on technology use by healthcare providers. Included studies were sorted into categories based on the type of technology transgender participants used.
 Results: Twenty-nine articles met the study inclusion criteria from an initial pool of 1,276 articles searched from online databases. Many studies were involved with multiple categories. Fourteen articles addressed websites targeting transgender people, twelve included the usage of online social media sites, seven articles involved transgender usage of online surveys, and four articles discussed transgender usage of smartphones in health management.
 Conclusion and potential impact: Twenty-two studies focused on the application of interventions through websites and social media sites, nineteen of which concluded that web-based health information or interventions were feasible methods to affect the health of transgender people. Sixteen studies concluded that online interactions were accepted, if not preferred, by their transgender participants. This review suggests that further integration of online interventions and healthcare information into these mediums may increase transgender engagement in healthcare and reduce healthcare barriers. Future research to improve understanding of the outcomes of health information technology on the health of transgender people would be an asset for treating a historically medically underserved community.

The Role of the Internet for Healthcare Information in Otorhinolaryngology.

The wide distribution and availability of the internet during the last decades revolutionized the human information and communication behavior. Via internet, information can be easily retrieved and participative applications allow new types of interaction. The healthcare system is directly affected because information and communication represent a relevant part of it. The present contribution is intended to describe this development and its impact on otorhinolaryngology. The use of the internet for the research of health-related information is continuously increasing since several years and has meanwhile achieved significant importance. In the clinical context, other information sources still have a higher relevance. Laypeople mostly use the search engine of Google when performing health-related research. Even if the reliability of the presented information is difficult to assess, alternative offers that are specialized on valid healthcare information could not prevail. Anecdotic or incorrect information are regularly observed. Numerous trials investigated the quality of healthcare information on web pages. The methodical spectrum reaches from formula-depending readability testing via structured assessment tools up to certificates. The result shows that healthcare information on internet sites is often difficult to understand for the general population. Nearly all social media contain healthcare information and their relevance is increasing. Nonetheless, there is only few scientific knowledge on the characteristics and the effect of healthcare information in social media. The availability of online healthcare information requires new understanding of health literacy. The concept of digital literacy (eHealth literacy) contains among others the readability, media competence, IT knowledge, and basic scientific knowledge. The implementation of those skills depends on individual and social factors such as education, socio-economic status, and age. Investigations revealed a low healthcare literacy in a high percentage of the patients.The distribution of the internet also modifies the relationship between physician and patient. Well-informed patients request being involved in medical decisions. Physicians have a particular responsibility regarding the consultation of medical laypeople by weighting and verifying information. By actively participating, physicians should contribute to digitization in medicine for the benefit of their patients. Medical associations are particularly invited to contribute to this process.

Quality of Online Health Information Regarding Sickle Cell Disease Transition

Introduction:As modern medicine has decreased mortality rates of children with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), patients with SCD are living into adulthood and transitioning to adult care. However transition for these patients has proven to be a vulnerable time. Thus, it is important to prepare youth adequately for chronic care transition through expectations, knowledge, skills, efficacy, and support.The advancement of the Internet has provided patients a primary source to search and gather health-related knowledge. Internet usage is almost ubiquitous among American youth with 92% of them accessing the Internet regularly. Previous studies have shown a wide spectrum in the quality of information available on the Internet. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, a systematic review of online health information regarding transition of patients with SCD has not been conducted.Methods:Data were collected in December 2017 and January 2018 using the 5 search engines that have been identified as being most commonly utilized. Keywords were selected to represent phrases that people may use while searching for information on the Internet regarding SCD transition. Combinations of the keywords were used in the searches, and the first 20 links for each search term were considered in our study. Incognito window was used so that previous searches did not influence the results from the search engines. Websites that met the required inclusion/ exclusion criteria were included in this study. Websites were divided as SCD transition or non-SCD transition specific websites based on whether they mentioned sickle cell disease or not. Websites were classified as academic/educational institution, health department, hospital/private clinician, professional body, or other (includes Wiki, WebMD, and etc).Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) Score was used to evaluate website readability. A novel 12-item transition-specific content tool was produced to evaluate website content. Website quality was evaluated by assessing for the presence or absence of the HONcode certification and using the EQIP tool. A high quality website was defined as having an EQIP Score ≥ 75% in this study. Website quality and content was scored by two research assistants employed in the General Pediatrics department at Northwell Health.Statistical analysis was performed using Excel and online tools. A p-value <0.05 was the criterion for statistical significance.Results:Using the combination of keywords decided, 9522 websites were identified using the selected search engines. Of the 9522 websites, 157 eligible websites met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. 92 websites were SCD specific links and 65 websites were non-SCD specific links.27 websites had a HONCode certification issued to them. Only 1 non-SCD website and 26 SCD specific websites had HONCode certifications.The average EQIP score was 59.0 ± 3.0. The average EQIP score for SCD specific websites was 56.9 ± 5.2 and was 61.1 ± 5.0 for non-SCD specific websites. Based on the cutoff value of an EQIP score ≥ 75%, 6 SCD specific websites and 13 non-SCD specific websites are of high quality. The interrater reliability in EQIP ratings was good (Pearson correlation: 0.660).The average FRE score was 49.0 ± 4.0. The average FRE score was 51.9 ± 13.7 for SCD specific websites and 46.1 ± 15.8 for non-SCD specific websites.The average website content score was 28.6 ± 10.7. The average website content score was 21.0 ± 7.1 for SCD specific websites and 36.1 ± 10.2 for non-SCD specific websites.The results of the two tailed t-test indicated that FRE scores between HONCode certified and non-HONCode certified websites were significant for among SCD websites as well as among combined SCD and non-SCD websites (p < 0.05).All identified websites will also be reviewed by two physicians who specialize in caring for young adults with chronic illnesses. Analyses from their review will be conducted prior to the conference.Conclusion:Although seeking health care information online is very common, the overall quality of information about sickle cell disease transition on the Internet is poor. Steps should be taken to make changes that will allow for adequate online healthcare information regarding sickle cell disease transition. By doing this, youth going through transition will be prepared by having competent expectations, knowledge, skills, efficacy, and support available on the Internet. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Dr Google in the ED: searching for online health information by adult emergency department patients.

To determine the prevalence, predictors, and characteristics of health-related internet searches by adult emergency department (ED) patients; to examine the effect of searching on the doctor-patient relationship and treatment compliance. A multi-centre, observational, cross-sectional study; a purpose-designed 51-item survey, including tools for assessing e-health literacy (eHEALS) and the effects of internet searching on the doctor-patient relationship (ISMII). Setting, participants: 400 adult patients presenting to two large tertiary referral centre emergency departments in Melbourne, February-May 2017. Descriptive statistics for searching prevalence and characteristics, doctor-patient interaction, and treatment compliance; predictors of searching; effect of searching on doctor-patient interaction. 400 of 1056 patients screened for eligibility were enrolled; their mean age was 47.1 years (SD, 21.1 years); 51.8% were men. 196 (49.0%) regularly searched the internet for health information; 139 (34.8%) had searched regarding their current problem before presenting to the ED. The mean ISMII score was 30.3 (95% CI, 29.6-31.0); searching improved the doctor-patient interaction for 150 respondents (77.3%). Younger age (per 10-year higher age band: odds ratio [OR], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.61-0.91) and greater e-health literacy (per one-point eHEALS increase: OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.06-1.17) predicted searching the current problem prior to presentation; e-health literacy predicted ISMII score (estimate, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.20-0.39). Most patients would never or rarely doubt their diagnosis (79%) or change their treatment plan (91%) because of conflicting online information. Online health care information was frequently sought before presenting to an ED, especially by younger and e-health literate patients. Searching had a positive impact on the doctor-patient interaction and was unlikely to reduce adherence to treatment.

Peer teaching and information retrieval: the role of the NICE Evidence search student champion scheme in enhancing students' confidence.

This research reports on the NICE Evidence search (ES) student champion scheme (SCS) first five years of activity (2011-2016) in terms of its impact on health care undergraduate students' information search skills and search confidence. A review of students' evaluation of the scheme was carried out to chart the changes in attitude towards NICE Evidence search as an online health care information source and to monitor students' approach to information seeking. This study is based on the results of questionnaires distributed to students before and after attending a training session on NICE Evidence search delivered by their own peers. The exercise was implemented in health related universities in England over a period of five consecutive academic years. (i) Students' search confidence improved considerably after the training; (ii) ES was perceived as being an increasingly useful resource of evidence based information for their studies; (iii) the training helped students develop discerning search skills and use evidence based information sources more consistently and critically. The NICE SCS improves confidence in approaching information tasks amongst health care undergraduate students. Future developments could involve offering the training at the onset of a course of study and adopting online delivery formats to expand its geographical reach.

Personalised health document summarisation exploiting Unified Medical Language System and topic-based clustering for mobile healthcare

According to the growing interest in mobile healthcare, multi-document summarisation techniques are increasingly required to cope with health information overload and effectively deliver personalised online healthcare information. However, because of the peculiarities of medical terminology and the diversity of subtopics in health documents, multi-document summarisation must consider technical aspects that are different from those of the general domain. In this article, we propose a personalised health document summarisation system that provides a reliable personal health-related summary to general healthcare consumers via mobile devices. Our system generates a personalised summary from multiple online health documents by exploiting biomedical concepts, semantic types and semantic relations extracted from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and analysing individual health records derived from mobile personal health record (PHR) applications. Furthermore, to increase the diversity and coverage of summarised results and to display them in a user-friendly manner on mobile devices, we create a summary that is categorised into subtopics by grouping semantically related sentences through topic-based clustering. The experimental evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed system.

Information overload, psychological ill-being, and behavioral intention to continue online healthcare information search

Internet these days have been extensively used to access and search health information supplementing or substituting the traditional sources of online health information (OHI) like health professionals. With the increase in online health information search the production of health information on internet is also rapidly increasing. Due to the enormous volume of health information available on internet, it is hard to locate, process and manage the required valuable information effectively often overloading health information seekers. Information overload phenomenon occurs when more information is presented than the ability of information seekers to process and handle the information. Researchers argue that information overload phenomenon is significantly associated with health-related issues of information seekers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to empirically examine how OHI related information overload impacts the psychological state of information seekers and their behavioral intention to continue the use of OHI search. A research model based on Information Processing Theory and Theory of Planned Behavior is developed and tested using the data collected from 380 survey responses. The results show that perceived information overload has a positive impact on information seekers’ psychological ill-being influencing their behavioral intention to discontinue the use of OHI search. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed at the end of the paper.

Do we trust and are we empowered by “Dr. Google”? Older Spaniards’ uses and views of digital healthcare communication

By 2050, 34.5% of Spaniards will be over the age of 65, making Spain's population the third oldest in the world. Ageing populations present numerous challenges and opportunities and these are particularly apparent in the area of healthcare and health communication. Longer life expectancy pushes greater demand for information regarding health and healthcare institutions are exploring ways of meeting these demands in an effective and efficient manner. This study listens to the voices of older people themselves, exploring seniors’ use of digital communication to find information related to health and healthy living. Part of a wider project examining the use of digital health communication for active aging by Spanish health institutions, this research used focus groups to explore the extent to which older people trust and feel empowered by digital media in finding out about health issues. It found that online healthcare information is giving older people the chance to take more responsibility for their own health and, when well founded and well used, it can act as part of a safety net that complements the work of healthcare professionals. Being able to compare and contrast the information received from one's physician is in itself an empowering development.

Impact of Age on Online Healthcare Information Search: A Study on Indian Patients

Availability of healthcare information on internet has made it possible for patients or their relatives to search for such information. Considering the delicate nature of such an information as well as its great need felt by the society it is important to know who are these people who actively search for online healthcare information and also those who are unable to do so. This study was undertaken to find answers to one such question – impact of the age factor. The objective of the study is to measure the differences in perception of patients in three exclusive age-groups regarding the impact, merits and demerits of DTC promotion through online-health related websites. In all 754 respondents participated in the survey of which 440 patients were not sufficiently conversant with internet technology and hence were screened out in the first phase. The final survey sample, therefore comprised of 314 patients. One-way ANOVA has been used to measure the difference in perception across three age-groups. The result shows that age is a critical determinant in shaping perceptions of patients regarding the impact, merits and demerits of DTC promotion through online-health related websites. out of 43 select variables the age-based differences are significant in 39 cases; appreciably high in 3 cases and substantially high in 19 cases.

Delivering Healthcare Information via the Internet: Cardiac Patients' Access, Usage, Perceptions of Usefulness, and Web Site Content Preferences

To assess patients' usage of the Internet as a source of personal healthcare information and patients' perceptions of usefulness and content preferences of more locally focused online health-related material. A paper-based survey was undertaken by a convenience sample of cardiac outpatients. Age, gender, Internet access, Internet usage, perception of usefulness of online information, predicted intention to use a local cardiology Web site if available, and preferred components to be included were recorded. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used. Two hundred thirty-seven patients responded (62.1% males). One hundred seventy-six (74.3%) used the Internet, with 126 (63%) using it daily. For patients who did not have direct access to the Internet, 26 (50%) had a family member to do this on their behalf. Thus, the majority of patients (202 [85%]) had access to the Internet at home or someone who could access it on their behalf. Internet usage declined with age (Kendall's tau_b=0.321, p<0.001). There was no difference in use with gender (p=0.235). There was considerable interest expressed in a locally delivered Web-based information service. Online healthcare information services have the potential to reach the vast majority of cardiac patients either directly or through family support. The most elderly patients are less likely to use these services. Despite apparent satisfaction with existing online resources, there appears to be an unmet need for more information and considerable support for a locally based cardiac patient Web resource to deliver this. These findings may help guide future patient information Web site redesign.