Ashkanani Hasan, Asery Rabab, Bokubar Fajer, AlAli Noor, Mubarak Shahad, Buabbas Ali, Almajran Abdullah
Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Jabriyah, Kuwait.
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Jabriyah, Kuwait.
JMIR Form Res. 2019 Oct 31;3(4):e14327. doi: 10.2196/14327.
Owing to the revolution in technology, the internet has become an important aspect of people's lives. Modern technology is enabling people from diverse educational backgrounds to use the internet for several purposes, one of which is health information seeking. Recently, Web-based health information has become more popular among patients all over the world and among the general public.
This study aimed to investigate the use of Web-based health resources among undergraduate students from different faculties at Kuwait University.
The study employed a cross-sectional design with students selected from 8 faculties of Kuwait University, 4 faculties of Literature and 4 faculties of Science. Data were collected using structured questionnaires, and analysis was done using a chi-square test and binary logistic regression to determine the factors associated with seeking health information on the Web.
The sample size obtained was 1132 with a response rate of 90.27% (1132/1254). Overall, the prevalence of students seeking Web-based health information was 92.66%. (1049/1132) The most significant factors associated with seeking health information on the Web were age, gender, faculty, year of study, primary source of internet, and level of experience with internet use. In total, 90.0% (325/361) of students who were aged older than 21 years used Web-based health information compared with 82.8% (275/332) of those who were aged 18 years. In addition, female students showed a higher prevalence (829/934, 88.8%) of Web-based health information seeking than males (210/270, 77.8%). Students who majored in faculties of Science were more likely to seek health information than those who majored in faculties of Literature. All the differences found in the study were statistically significant (P<.05).
The study concluded that many people use the internet for seeking health information. Sociodemographic factors have a significant association with Web-based health information seeking. Therefore, doctors must educate the public about the health information websites that can be trusted.
由于技术革命，互联网已成为人们生活的一个重要方面。现代技术使来自不同教育背景的人们能够出于多种目的使用互联网，其中之一就是寻求健康信息。最近，基于网络的健康信息在全世界的患者和普通公众中变得越来越流行。
本研究旨在调查科威特大学不同学院的本科生对基于网络的健康资源的使用情况。
本研究采用横断面设计，从科威特大学的8个学院中选取学生，其中4个文学院和4个理学院。使用结构化问卷收集数据，并使用卡方检验和二元逻辑回归进行分析，以确定与在网上寻求健康信息相关的因素。
获得的样本量为1132，回复率为90.27%（1132/1254）。总体而言，寻求基于网络的健康信息的学生比例为92.66%（1049/1132）。与在网上寻求健康信息最相关的因素是年龄、性别、学院、学习年份、互联网的主要来源以及互联网使用经验水平。总共有90.0%（325/361）年龄超过21岁的学生使用基于网络的健康信息，而年龄为18岁的学生这一比例为82.8%（275/332）。此外，寻求基于网络的健康信息的女学生比例（829/934，88.8%）高于男学生（210/270，77.8%）。理科专业的学生比文科专业的学生更有可能寻求健康信息。研究中发现的所有差异均具有统计学意义（P<0.05）。
该研究得出结论，许多人使用互联网寻求健康信息。社会人口统计学因素与基于网络的健康信息寻求存在显著关联。因此，医生必须向公众宣传可信赖的健康信息网站。
