New Journal Article: “Dr Google Is Here to Stay but Health Care Professionals Are Still Valued: An Analysis of Health Care Consumers’ Internet Navigation Support Preferences”

The following articles was recently published by the Journal of Internet Medical Research (JMIR).
Title

Dr Google Is Here to Stay but Health Care Professionals Are Still Valued: An Analysis of Health Care Consumers’ Internet Navigation Support Preferences

Authors
Kenneth Lee
University of Tasmania
Kreshnik Hoti
Curtin University
University of Prishtina (Albania)
Jeffery David Hughes
University of Tasmania
Lynne Emmerton
University of Tasmania
Source
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Vol 19, No 6 (2017): June
doi: 10.2196/jmir.7489
PMID: 28615156

From the Abstract
Background:

The Internet offers great opportunities for consumers to be informed about their health. However, concerns have been raised regarding its impact on the traditional health consumer-health professional relationship. Our recent survey of 400 Australian adults identified that over half of consumers required some form of navigational support in locating appropriate Web-based health information. We propose that support provided by health professionals would be preferred by consumers; this preference is regardless of whether consumers have a need for navigational support. Secondary analysis of the survey dataset is presented here to quantify consumer-reported support preferences and barriers when navigating Web-based health information.
Objective
We aimed to quantitatively identify consumers’ support preferences for locating Web-based health information and their barriers when navigating Web-based health information. We also aimed to compare such preferences and barriers between consumers identified as needing and not needing support when locating Web-based health information.
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Conclusions:
Despite concerns in the literature that the popularity of the Internet could compromise the health consumer-health professional relationship, our findings suggest the contrary. Our findings showed that health professionals were found to be the most commonly preferred mode of navigational support, even among consumers classified as not needing navigational support. Further research into how health professionals could assist consumers with Web-based health information seeking could strengthen the health consumer-health professional relationship amidst the growing use of “Dr Google.”

Direct to Full Text Article: Dr Google Is Here to Stay but Health Care Professionals Are Still Valued: An Analysis of Health Care Consumers’ Internet Navigation Support Preferences

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