FRANCE: Who Surfs The Web For Health Information?

PARIS, FRANCE (INSERM), November 27, 2007: In January 2007, the Inserm (National Health And Medical Research Institute), DS3 research team (Social determinants of health and healthcare utilisation) launched a major survey on the Internet in order to identify and better understand web surfers looking for health information. In 2005, 54 to 77% of surfers in Europe had already searched the web for this type of information. In France, the first estimates of INSEE show that 30% of Web users had already sought health information on the Internet. Who are these health “surfers”? What are they looking for? Here are the conclusions of the study: “The health surfer” is a woman… or a health provider. According to results of the survey carried out by Inserm among 4500 people, if health professionals are excluded, the “health” web surfer is an active, middle-aged woman (50% are between 29 and 53 years) of high educational level living with her partner, with considerable experience of the Internet and facing a health problem (personal or a close family members). Overall, these surfers feel more concerned by health problems than most people. The first finding is that in 80% of the cases the information they are looking for is for themselves or a close relation. Persons use the Internet to obtain a better understanding of the information given to them by their doctors or to find different information from that which they were given. Search topics vary with age. Many young people look for information about how to use the social protection system or healthcare facilities, whereas medical news is much more closely watched by more elderly persons. A notable difference is also observed for research concerning natural and alternative medicines: nearly twice as many searches in this field are made by women. Doctors and pharmacists are the health providers who most often consult the Internet. Their searches concern a variety of subjects including medical news, diseases, symptoms or treatment and patient associations. Internet users not very careful about their sources Despite the increase and constant multiplication in the number of sources of information on the Internet (websites, blogs, discussion forums etc.) barely more than 40% of surfers say that they check the source of the information which they obtain. For Inserm researchers, it therefore seems of paramount importance to offer surfers high-quality and reliable sites dedicated to health. At the same time, it also seems necessary to develop and continue training into how the Internet may be used to seek information, all the more when these are health-related questions. “The ‘classic’ information media such as radio, television or the press seems to be good vectors for disseminating health information and for advising about 1 http://www.inserm.fr/fr/presse/CP_institutionnels/2007/att00004483/whistdef.pdf reliable sites recognised by professionals » adds Emilie Renahy grant recipient, who conducts this study in the DS3 team. Finally whatever the topic or whoever the recipient, more than ¾ of queries are made via a search engine. The Internet does not replace a visit to the doctor In most cases, the use of the Internet as a source of health information does not seem to change other information-seeking behaviour (information from other sources such as the press, television, health practitioners, etc.). A large majority of the persons questioned (84%) said that it did not modify their healthcare utilisation and they still continued to see their doctor as often as before. On the contrary, “health” surfers were often dissatisfied with their relation with doctors for whom they had high expectations in particular in terms of communication. Between half and ¾ of them wished in particular that their doctors listened to them more carefully and gave them more explanations about their state of health or existing treatments. Other studies must be conducted to give more precise estimations about the extent of these behaviours in the general population. However this study clearly improves our understanding of the impact of the Internet on relations between patients and doctors and, more generally, on how it changes the way people look after themselves and perceive the healthcare system. Click for Complete results of the survey