Situating Internet Use: Information-Seeking Among Young Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

In recent years considerable attention has been focused on the potential of the Internet as a means of health information delivery that can meet varied health information needs and empower patients. In this article, we explore utilization of the Internet as a means of health information consumption amongst young women with breast cancer who were known Internet users. Focusing on a population known to be competent at using the Internet allowed us to eliminate the digital divide as a possible explanation for limited use of the Internet for health information-seeking. Ultimately, this allowed us to demonstrate that even in this Internet savvy population, the Internet is not necessarily an unproblematic means of disseminating health care information, and to demonstrate that the huge amount of health care information available does not automatically mean that information is useful to those who seek it, or even particularly easy to find. Results from our qualitative study suggest that young women with breast cancer sought information about their illness in order to make a health related decision, to learn what would come next, or to pursue social support. Our respondents reported that the Internet was one source of many that they consulted when seeking information about their illness, and it was not the most trusted or most utilized source of information this population sought.doi:10.1111/j. 1083-6101.2010.01506.x Introduction: The Promise of Online Health InformationIn recent years the Internet has received considerable attention as a means for dissemination of health information. Internet based delivery of health information 389is often viewed as an optimal way to disseminate health information because it offers privacy, immediacy, a wide variety of information, and a variety of perspectives (Bischoff and Kelley, 1999). An expansion of health information websites has been supported by health policy documents in many countries, which suggest that greater availability of health information via the Internet will lead to the emergence of more informed patients who are better able to assess the risks and benefits of different treatments for themselves.For example, a Health Canada planning document identified the provision of ''relevant, credible and timely health information to the public to empower individuals to manage their own health through a Canadian Health Network and self-care and telecare services '' (Health Canada, 2000: 79) as one of three priorities. Services such as the National Health Services' NHS Direct Online have been developed in order to ''help people to take more responsibility for their own health and to communicate with healthcare professionals'' (Department of Health, 2004). Similarly a European Union policy document argues that ''as Member States try to contain healthcare costs and the paternalist model of 'doctor-knows-best' is eroded, patients want to learn about their condition, its treatments, and preventative measures'' and calls for promotion of ''the educational power of the Internet to ...

Social Media in Healthcare

“…This explosion of content stretches human cognitive powers to their limits and makes it difficult for anyone to stay current [11]. Therefore, in the face of this extraordinary growth it is not surprising that patients are adopting social computing to manage information overload and augment knowledge so they can play a more empowered and active role in managing their health [9], [13], [15], [20], [22]- [25]. Uptake of social computing for health is reflected in the numbers.…”

“…One of the biggest downsides of the Internet is questionable information quality [15], [22], [23], [26], [32], [35], [37]- [39]. Sorting through the overwhelming volumes of information served up by search engines and proliferated by a wide variety of professional and amateur users to find valid, hidden gems can be difficult and time-consuming for laypeople [26].…”

“…Information seeking, defined as "the purposive acquisition of information from selective information carriers,"-a well-known coping strategy for patients [40]-is a complex activity that has received limited research attention in the healthcare space [22]. Perpetuating what is arguably a "rationalized myth" [41, p. 344], the proliferation of online healthcare information is held out as having significant benefits.…”

“…Perpetuating what is arguably a "rationalized myth" [41, p. 344], the proliferation of online healthcare information is held out as having significant benefits. This implies that patients are able to navigate and synthesize information to make informed decisions about their health [22]. However, "…the huge amount of...information available does not automatically mean that information is useful to those who seek it, or even particularly easy to find" [22, p. 389].…”

“…Although it has been empirically shown in the emerging research that patients value information from face-to-face visits with their care team members over what they can glean from secondary sources [20], [22], [40], use of the Internet as a source of healthcare information by the general population is growing rapidly [24]. "Healthcare information seeking is second only to email communication, search engine utilization and maps browsing" [23, p. 87].…”