Perceptions of infertility information and support sources among female patients who access the Internet.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate perceived helpfulness of and reliance on infertility information and support sources and correlates of online information and support seeking among infertile women.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

Web site of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.

PATIENT(S): A total of 567 infertile women responded to an invitation.

INTERVENTION(S): Self-administered online questionnaire.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Sense of being informed, perceived helpfulness of online information, perceived helpfulness of online support, perceived helpfulness of infertility specialist for information, perceived helpfulness of infertility specialist for support.

RESULT(S): The Internet is the most heavily relied-upon source, followed by books and infertility specialists. Sense of being informed was related to patient history, comfort level with doctor, doctor's encouragement of Internet use, and reliance on infertility specialists, but not related to Internet use. Perceived helpfulness of online information was negatively related to reliance on infertility specialists for information and support.

CONCLUSION(S): Providers should consider patients' perceptions of the Internet as an information and support source. Encouraging Internet use may help women feel comfortable talking with providers and asking questions, two major factors that contributed significantly to ratings of specialists and to these women's sense of being informed about their infertility.