Reflexologists' responses to a patient with abdominal pain-a survey on Internet advice.

OBJECTIVE

To generate preliminary data on how individual reflexologists deal with patients seeking medical advice on the Internet.

DESIGN

E-mail survey involving reflexologists who were partly blinded for their advice on the Internet.

SETTING

Cyberspace.

PARTICIPANTS

Two hundred and seventy-seven members of the Association of Reflexologists. Of 842 e-mails sent out we received 323 responses (38% response rate) of which 46 participants later withdrew their responses (14% withdrawal rate).

INTERVENTION

Participants were asked to advise a fictitious patient via e-mail who presented various health problems.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Rating of responses according to safety and claims made by reflexologist sample.

RESULTS

Eighty-five percent of all respondents advised the fictitious patient to present the health problems to a medical professional. Fifty-eight percent expressed urgency to see a primary care physician or other health care professional and 95% pointed out that a diagnosis cannot and should not be made by a reflexologist. Twenty-nine percent of responders suggested a differential diagnosis or underlying causes for the patient's condition.

CONCLUSIONS

In this survey reflexologists from the UK Association of Reflexologists have responded in an encouraging manner to a fictitious patient's request for health advice via electronic mail as only 5% (or possibly 15%) of reflexologists from this survey need to be more cautious about the advice they give their patients. We hope that our study will further encourage therapists to be more cautious giving Internet health advice in the future.