Kalckreuth Sophie, Trefflich Friederike, Rummel-Kluge Christine
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig University, Semmelweißstraße 10, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
BMC Psychiatry. 2014 Dec 24;14:368. doi: 10.1186/s12888-014-0368-7.
The Internet is of great importance in today's health sector, as most Internet users utilize online functions for health related purposes. Concerning the mental health care sector, little data exist about the Internet use of psychiatric patients. It is the scope of this current study to analyze the quantity and pattern of Internet usage among mental health patients.
Patients from all services of the Department of Psychiatry at a university hospital were surveyed by completing a 29-item questionnaire. The data analysis included evaluation of frequencies, as well as group comparisons.
337 patients participated in the survey, of whom 79.5% were Internet users. Social media was utilized by less than half of the users: social networks (47.8%), forums (19.4%), chats (18.7%), blogs (12.3%). 70.9% used the Internet for mental health related reasons. The contents accessed by the patients included: information on mental disorders (57.8%), information on medication (43.7%), search for mental health services (38.8%), platforms with other patients (19.8%) and platforms with mental health professionals (17.2%). Differences in the pattern of use between users with low, medium and high frequency of Internet use were statistically significant for all entities of social media (p < 0.01), search for mental health services (p = 0.017) and usage of platforms with mental health professionals (p = 0. 048). The analysis of differences in Internet use depending on the participants' type of mental disorder revealed no statistically significant differences, with one exception. Regarding the Internet's role in mental health care, the participants showed differing opinions: 36.2% believe that the Internet has or may have helped them in coping with their mental disorder, while 38.4% stated the contrary.
Most psychiatric patients are Internet users. Mental health related Internet use is common among patients, mainly for information seeking. The use of social media is generally less frequent. It varies significantly between different user types and was shown to be associated with high frequency of Internet use. The results illustrate the importance of the Internet in mental health related contexts and may contribute to the further development of mental health related online offers.
互联网在当今医疗领域至关重要，因为大多数互联网用户会利用在线功能来实现与健康相关的目的。关于精神卫生保健领域，有关精神病患者互联网使用情况的数据很少。本研究旨在分析精神卫生患者的互联网使用量和模式。
通过填写一份包含29个项目的问卷，对一所大学医院精神科所有科室的患者进行了调查。数据分析包括频率评估以及组间比较。
337名患者参与了调查，其中79.5%是互联网用户。不到一半的用户使用社交媒体：社交网络（47.8%）、论坛（19.4%）、聊天（18.7%）、博客（12.3%）。70.9%的患者因与精神健康相关的原因使用互联网。患者访问的内容包括：精神障碍信息（57.8%）、药物信息（43.7%）、寻找精神卫生服务（38.8%）、与其他患者交流的平台（19.8%）以及与精神卫生专业人员交流的平台（17.2%）。在社交媒体的所有类别（p < 0.01）、寻找精神卫生服务（p = 0.017）以及使用与精神卫生专业人员交流的平台（p = 0.048）方面，低、中、高互联网使用频率用户之间的使用模式差异具有统计学意义。根据参与者的精神障碍类型分析互联网使用差异，除一个例外情况外，未发现具有统计学意义的差异。关于互联网在精神卫生保健中的作用，参与者有不同看法：36.2%的人认为互联网已经或可能帮助他们应对精神障碍，而38.4%的人则持相反观点。
大多数精神病患者是互联网用户。与精神健康相关的互联网使用在患者中很常见，主要是为了获取信息。社交媒体的使用通常较少。不同用户类型之间差异显著，且与高互联网使用频率相关。研究结果说明了互联网在精神健康相关背景下的重要性，并可能有助于精神健康相关在线服务的进一步发展。
