Marketing

According to a new study of the habits of American healthcare consumers, the network of sources both online and offline being relied upon is widening. Although engagement among consumers in online resources continues to strengthen, American adults continue to turn to traditional sources of health information.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project study, The Social Life of Health Information, published this month is based on data collected from telephone interviews conducted in November and December 2008 among a national sample of more than 2,200 adults. The group finds that 61% of US adults look online or health information, up from 25% in 2000. However, despite the growing importance of the internet, 86% of respondents say they turn to a physician or other healthcare professional for information or assistance in dealing with health or medical issues, while 68% report asking a friend or family member.

The internet supplements, but does not replace, traditional sources of health information, the group says. Technology is not an end, but a means to accelerate the pace of discovery, widen social networks, and sharpen the questions someone might ask when they do get to talk to a health professional.

Social trends

More than half (52%) of all online health queries are on behalf of someone other than the person conducting the internet search. The group says that the social life of health information is robust, considering that more than two-thirds of e-patients talk with someone else (most often a friend or spouse) about the information they find online. In addition, the group says, a majority of e-patients access user-generated health information, such as online comments on news groups or blogs (41%).

Technology can help to enable the human connection in health care and the internet is turning up the information networks volume, the report concludes.

Pew reports that nearly one-quarter of e-patients (24%) have consulted rankings or reviews online of doctors or other providers and a similar number have done likewise for hospitals or other medical facilities. In addition, 19% have subscribed to updates about health or medical issues and 13% have listened to a podcast on health or medical issues.

Despite this interest in online health content, few e-patients are actively writing or creating content, the group says. Only 6% of those surveyed report tagging or categorizing online health content and an equal percentage say they have posted comments, queries or information about health issues in an online discussion or forum. Just 5% say they have posted comments about health on a blog or reviewed a doctor or hospital online.

Pew says despite the increasing popularity of social network sites and status update services, few people are using them to gather and share health information. Although 39% of e-patients report they use a social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook, only a small portion say they have followed friends health experiences, posted their own health-related comments or joined a health-related group. In addition, 12% of e-patients say they use Twitter, but few have posted comments, queries or information about health issues.

But internet users who have looked online for health information are more likely than non-health seekers to have created or worked on their own blog, read someone elses blog, used a social network site, used Twitter or another status update service, and to have consulted Wikipedia. Even when controlling for age, education, and other variables, being an e-patient emerges as a significant predictor for other social media engagement, the group says.

Pew finds e-patients with mobile access to the internet are more likely than those who have tethered access to contribute their comments and reviews to the online conversation. The group says this echoes data from other studies such as the The Mobile Difference report (Horrigan, 2009), that indicate that wireless access is associated with deeper engagement and participation in online communications.

Mobile access creates a continual information exchange that feeds on itself and reinforces collaborative behavior, the Pew report concludes.

The nuts and bolts

Among internet users, 66% have looked online for information about a specific disease or medical problem and 55% for information about a specific medical treatment or procedure. Fifty-two percent (52%) have sought information about exercise, while 47% have researched doctors or other healthcare professionals online.

Forty-seven percent (47%) have looked online for information about prescription or over the counter drugs. In addition, internet users look for information about hospitals or other medical facilities (38%), private health insurance or government provided programs (37%), alternative treatments or medicines (35%), how to lose or control weight (33%), mental health issues (28%), other health issues (26%), experimental treatments or medicines (20%) and how to stay healthy on trips overseas (12%).

Of particular interest to pharma, the study finds that 11% more US adults are looking online for information about prescription drugs today than in 2002. And some demographic groups are more likely than others to seek prescription drug information online. Women, whites, those with at least some college education and internet users in households making more than $50,000 a year are more likely than others to seek prescription or over the counter information online.

The bottom line

According to Pew, online health inquiries have an impact on decisions or actions and the group says there are clearly more positive experiences than negative ones. The group reports that among the 60% of e-patients who say their most recent search had an impact on their own health or the way they care for someone else: 60% say the information found online affected a decision about how to treat an illness or condition; 56% say it changed their overall approach to maintaining their health or the health of someone they help take care of; and 53% say it led them to ask a doctor new questions, or to get a second opinion from another doctor.

Despite the importance of information found on the internet, in the end, the group says, experts remain vital to the health-search and decision-making process.

Americans longstanding practices of asking a health professional, a trusted friend, or a wise family member persist as patients pursue good health, the researchers report. These are practices which, in the words of John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid (The Social Life of Information - Harvard Business School Press: 2000) will not budge and therefore require designers of any new health care application to look not ahead, but to look around in order to see the way forward.

To access the full Pew Internet & American Life Project report, visit www.pewinternet.org.