Users Look to Search Engines for Health Information
Is online health information reliable and accurate? Doctors worry about this question, but Web users in the U.S. don’t seem to mind. A recent report titled “Online Health Search 2006” released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on Sunday indicates that eight out of 10 Web users in the U.S. (or about 113 million adults) have searched for one of Pew’s 17 health topics this year. This is a continuation of a trend that has been seen for the past four years.
The groups of users most likely to have searched for health information online include women, Web users under the age of 65, college graduates, users with more online experience, and users with broadband access from their homes.
Of the 2,928 respondents interviewed over the phone in August, 74% said that they were confident that they could make “appropriate health care decisions” after their last online health information search. Fifty-one percent indicated that they felt “eager to share their new health or medical knowledge with others.”
The startling finding that will send chills down doctors’ spines is that three-quarters of online health information searchers only check the source and date of the health information they find “only sometimes,” “hardly ever,” or “never.” This is equivalent to about 85 million Americans who are at risk of reading and putting their confidence in health information that could be wrong.
Only 15% of “health seekers” say that they “always” check the source and date of the information they come across online, and 10% say they do “most of the time.”
The study says that the reason for this irresponsibility in online health queries could be due to the fact that only 4% of popular health Web sites post source information, and 2% divulge how the content on those pages are updated. These numbers come from a study ordered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Users searching for health information are not only negligent, they are helpful as well. Almost half of them, or 48% say that they looked for health information for someone else. This, along with the aforementioned eagerness these users have for sharing their findings, could compound the effect that incorrect information can have.
Another finding from the study relays the fact that 66% of those who seek out health information online start with a search engine query, while 27% start with a health-related site.
The bottom line seems to be that health information is a big market that has yet to see a real leader. The study notes that health-related search engines such as Healthline.com, Healia.com, Kosmix.com, Mammalhealth.com, and Medstory.com are recent entrants into the health information search game. There are a handful of other popular and better established health sites including WebMD.com. With the advertising potential there, and with the top spot free for the taking, these sites should fear a big player like Google jumping into the pool.
Health-related sites could also look to establishing a credibility-based leadership position in this online market.
Sources:
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Online_Health_2006.pdf
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-
20061030SearchersRarelyVetOnlineHealthSources.html
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=
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