Andreassen Hege K, Bujnowska-Fedak Maria M, Chronaki Catherine E, Dumitru Roxana C, Pudule Iveta, Santana Silvina, Voss Henning, Wynn Rolf
Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
BMC Public Health. 2007 Apr 10;7:53. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-7-53.
European citizens are increasingly being offered Internet health services. This study investigated patterns of health-related Internet use, its consequences, and citizens' expectations about their doctors' provision of e-health services.
Representative samples were obtained from the general populations in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Latvia. The total sample consisted of 7934 respondents. Interviews were conducted by telephone.
44 % of the total sample, 71 % of the Internet users, had used the Internet for health purposes. Factors that positively affected the use of Internet for health purposes were youth, higher education, white-collar or no paid job, visits to the GP during the past year, long-term illness or disabilities, and a subjective assessment of one's own health as good. Women were the most active health users among those who were online. One in four of the respondents used the Internet to prepare for or follow up doctors' appointments. Feeling reassured after using the Internet for health purposes was twice as common as experiencing anxieties. When choosing a new doctor, more than a third of the sample rated the provision of e-health services as important.
The users of Internet health services differ from the general population when it comes to health and demographic variables. The most common way to use the Internet in health matters is to read information, second comes using the net to decide whether to see a doctor and to prepare for and follow up on doctors' appointments. Hence, health-related use of the Internet does affect patients' use of other health services, but it would appear to supplement rather than to replace other health services.
欧洲公民越来越多地享受到互联网健康服务。本研究调查了与健康相关的互联网使用模式、其后果以及公民对医生提供电子健康服务的期望。
从挪威、丹麦、德国、希腊、波兰、葡萄牙和拉脱维亚的普通人群中获取代表性样本。总样本包括7934名受访者。通过电话进行访谈。
在总样本中，44%（在互联网用户中占71%）曾出于健康目的使用互联网。对出于健康目的使用互联网有积极影响的因素包括年轻、受过高等教育、白领职业或无薪工作、过去一年看过全科医生、患有长期疾病或残疾以及对自身健康的主观评价良好。在上网人群中，女性是最活跃的健康服务使用者。四分之一的受访者使用互联网为看医生做准备或跟进就医情况。出于健康目的使用互联网后感到安心的情况是感到焦虑的两倍。在选择新医生时，超过三分之一的样本认为提供电子健康服务很重要。
在健康和人口统计学变量方面，互联网健康服务使用者与普通人群不同。在健康问题上使用互联网最常见的方式是阅读信息，其次是利用网络决定是否看医生以及为看医生做准备和跟进就医情况。因此，与健康相关的互联网使用确实会影响患者对其他健康服务的使用，但似乎是对其他健康服务的补充而非替代。
