Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Sep 24;22(9):e15352. doi: 10.2196/15352.
The internet has enabled convenient and efficient health information searching which is valuable for individuals with chronic conditions requiring some level of self-management. However, there is little research evaluating what factors may impact the use of the internet for health-related tasks for specific clinical populations, such as individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases.
Our goal was to investigate the factors that influence internet use in acquiring health information by individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases. Specifically, we identified factors associated with internet searching behavior and using the internet for completing health-related tasks.
We used 2016 National Health Interview Survey weighted data to develop logistic regression models to predict the likelihood that individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases would use the internet for 2 types of tasks: seeking health information through online searches and using the internet to perform health-related tasks including scheduling appointments and emailing care providers.
2016 National Health Interview Survey weighted data include more than 3 million weighted adult respondents with inflammatory bowel diseases (approximately 1.29% of adults in the weighted data set). Our results suggest that approximately 66.3% of those with inflammatory bowel diseases reported using the internet at least once a day, and approximately 14.7% reported being dissatisfied with their current health care. About 62.3% of those with inflammatory bowel diseases reported that they had looked up health information online, 16.3% of those with inflammatory bowel diseases reported that they had scheduled an appointment with a health care provider online, and 21.6% reported having used a computer to communicate with a health provider by email. We found that women who were self-regulating their care were more likely to look up health information online than others. Both middle-aged and older adults with inflammatory bowel diseases who were unsatisfied with their current health care were less likely to look up health information online. Frequent internet users who were worried about medical costs were more likely to look up health information online. Similarly, the results from our statistical models suggest that individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases who were frequent internet users were more likely to use the internet for specific health-related tasks. Additionally, women with inflammatory bowel diseases who reported being married were less likely to use the internet for specific health-related tasks.
For those with inflammatory bowel diseases, there are additional socioeconomic and behavioral factors that impact the use of the internet for health information and health-related tasks. Future research should evaluate how these factors moderate the use of the internet and identify how online resources can support clinical populations in ways that improve access to information, support health self-management, and subsequently improve health outcomes.
互联网为慢性病患者提供了便捷、高效的健康信息搜索服务，这对他们的自我管理非常有价值。然而，针对特定临床人群（如炎症性肠病患者），评估哪些因素可能会影响他们使用互联网进行健康相关任务的研究还很少。
我们的目标是研究影响炎症性肠病患者获取健康信息的互联网使用因素。具体来说，我们确定了与互联网搜索行为以及使用互联网完成健康相关任务相关的因素。
我们使用 2016 年全国健康访谈调查的加权数据，建立逻辑回归模型来预测炎症性肠病患者使用互联网进行以下两种任务的可能性：通过在线搜索获取健康信息，以及使用互联网完成包括预约和给医护人员发电子邮件等健康相关任务。
2016 年全国健康访谈调查的加权数据包含了超过 300 万例加权成年炎症性肠病患者（约占加权数据集中成人的 1.29%）。我们的结果表明，大约 66.3%的炎症性肠病患者表示他们每天至少使用一次互联网，大约 14.7%的患者对他们目前的医疗服务不满意。大约 62.3%的炎症性肠病患者表示他们曾在网上查询过健康信息，16.3%的患者表示曾在网上预约过医疗服务，21.6%的患者表示曾通过计算机与医疗服务提供者进行电子邮件通信。我们发现，自我管理护理的女性更有可能在网上查询健康信息。对目前医疗服务不满意的中老年炎症性肠病患者在网上查询健康信息的可能性较低。经常上网且担心医疗费用的患者更有可能在网上查询健康信息。同样，我们的统计模型结果表明，经常上网的炎症性肠病患者更有可能使用互联网完成特定的健康相关任务。此外，报告已婚的炎症性肠病女性患者更不可能使用互联网完成特定的健康相关任务。
对于炎症性肠病患者，还有其他社会经济和行为因素会影响他们使用互联网获取健康信息和进行健康相关任务。未来的研究应评估这些因素如何调节互联网的使用，并确定在线资源如何以改善信息获取、支持健康自我管理，进而改善健康结果的方式为临床人群提供支持。
