Assessing Young Adults’ Web Searching for Health Information: An Exploratory Study in Singapore

Background: Currently, searching for health information constitutes an important use of the Web. Studies (e.g. Fox & Jones, 2011) have found that online health information significantly impacts consumers’ decisions about their own health or the health of someone whom they care. Hence, it is important to conduct timely exploratory studies to provide a comprehensive picture of the problems and trends in searching for online health information. Objective: Studies (Mokhtar et al. 2009; Siow et al. 2003) have reported that young adults (18 to 39) in Singapore search actively for online health information. However, there is no data specifically discusses about what do they search for and the problems they encounter while searching. Hence, this study tries to answer the following research questions: 1. Which online sources do young adults frequently use for searching health information? 2. What health topics do young adults frequently search online? 3. What are the problems encountered by young adults while searching online for health information? Method: The sampling frame for this study comprised of young adults who actively seek online health information. Hence, the survey instrument was administered to undergraduate and graduate students at a major local university. The questions in the instrument were constructed to analyze young adults’ usage of online health information. Some of the questions on frequently searched health topics and problems encountered while searching were taken from past PEW studies (Fox, 2011) and the questions on actions taken after searching online for health information was taken from Microsoft research (White & Horvitz, 2009). The instrument also tested young adults’ hypochondriac behaviour, which is taken from Pilowsky (1967). Results: Altogether 250 questionnaire were distributed, out of which 242 were returned. Of the 242 collected responses, 8 had not used Internet for health information, 13 had missing data and 7 did not belong to the young adults’ category. These responses were discarded. The remaining 214 responses (men = 85, women = 129) were used in the data analysis. The following are some key findings. • Descriptive statistics concerning respondents’ usage of online health information showed that search engines (86%, M = 3.67, SD = 0.92) are the highest used online source for searching health information, followed by Wiki (56%, M = 2.86, SD = 1.13) and health portals (52%, M = 2.69, SD = 1.02). • Respondents mainly looked for a specific disease (78%, M = 3.21, SD = 0.88), exercise & fitness (75%, M = 3.23, SD = 1.05), food & nutrition (72%, M = 3.01, SD = 1.01) and certain medical treatment (70%, M = 3.00, SD = 0.93). • Unreliable (85%, M = 3.29, SD = 0.79), scattered (85%, M = 3.37, SD = 0.83) and poor quality of information (82%, M = 3.06, SD = 0.67), unfamiliar source (83%, M = 3.35, SD = 0.81), irrelevant results (80%, M = 3.26, SD = 0.86) and information overload (80%, M = 3.24, SD = 0.81) are the major problems identified. • Slightly over 40% of the respondents were found to be hypochondriacs. Statistically significant correlations were found between hypochondriac measures with “Search for serious medical conditions related to my perceived condition” (r(207) = .34, p = .00), “Purchase medicine on line” (r(207) = .17, p = .02) and with “Go for repetitive tests / consultancy” (r(207) = .14, p = .04). • Correlation analysis also showed that hypochondriacs “frequently concerned about having a health problem or a serious medical condition based on the online health information when no condition was present” (r(207) = .35, p = .00) and “frequently use the Web to search on medical conditions that have been diagnosed by a health professional” (r(207) = .16, p = .03). Conclusion: This exploratory study postulates a part of ongoing research on Web searching for health information. The findings enhance our understanding of young adults’ Web searching for health information in the Singapore context. Observed correlation between young adults’ hypochondriac behaviour and their usage of online health information have direct practical implications for search engine developers and health website designers to improve search designs and to ensure quality of the content respectively. References Fox, S. (2011). The Social Life of Health Information. Retrieved 11th June 2011, from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Life-of-Health-Info.aspx Fox, S., & Jones, S. (2011). The Social Life of Health Information. Pew Internet & American Life project. Retrieved 06/08/2011, from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2011/PIP_Social_Life_of_Health_Info.pdf Mokhtar, I. A., Goh, J. E., Li, K. J., & Tham, C. X. (2009). Medical and Health Information Seeking among Singapore Youths: An Exploratory Study. Singapore Journal of Library & Information Management, 38. Pilowsky, I. (1967). Dimensions of Hypochondriasis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 89-93. Siow, T. R., Soh, I. P., Sreedharan, S., Das, D. D., Tan, P. P., Seow, A., et al. (2003). The Internet as a source of health information among Singaporeans: prevalence, patterns of health surfing and impact on health behaviour. ANNALS Academy of Medicine Singapore, 32(6), 807-813. White, R., & Horvitz, E. (2009). Experiences with Web Search on Medical Concerns and Self Diagnosis. Paper presented at the Annual Symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association. []