Search for Health-Related Information in Internet by People Referred to Clinics of Training-Treatment Centers in Qom City, Iran, 2015

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Health information include a wide spectrum of information, including information about diseases and how to prevent and treat them early, which is one of the main concerns for most people. In this study, the internet search for health information was investigated in referrers to clinics of educational-treatment centers in Qom city. The present research was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional study on 457 referrers (patients or relatives) to clinics of educational-treatment centers of Qom University of Medical Sciences using quota sampling and a questionnaire adopted from AlGhamdi’s study, 2015. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests and logistic regression at the significance level of p<0.05. Forty-one percent of the study samples have used Internet for their health status. In the investigation on search for health Information, most of the samples (87%) used the internet for their medical status. The most searched subject (14%) was cancer, and the majority of samples (52%) stated that medical information obtained from the internet was useful and (58%) stated relatively sufficient. Using the chi-square test, a significant relationship was observed between age (p=0.001), education (p=0.000), and search for health information in one month. Due to the low use of and unfamiliarity of the society with search for health information, authorities should try to plan to increase skill and literacy on health information efforts. Also, they should monitor accuracy and reliability of the information available on the Internet.

Keywords

• consumer health information
• health literacy
• information technology
• internet