Multifactorial and Complex Diseases Research Area, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza di Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy.
Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza di Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy.
Ital J Pediatr. 2020 Sep 29;46(1):141. doi: 10.1186/s13052-020-00884-7.
People increasingly search online for health information. Particularly, parents of patients often use the Internet as a source for health information. We conducted a survey to investigate the online searching behavior of parents of patients < 18 years, admitted for surgery in an Italian pediatric hospital.
The cross-sectional survey was nested in a prospective cohort study on surgical procedures. Parents of patients undergoing surgical procedures at Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy, were enrolled and contacted by phone after the procedure. We recorded socio-demographic data, sex, length of stay following surgery, proximity of residence to the hospital, use of the internet to search for information on the surgery before and after the intervention and effect of information found online.
The majority (91%) of parents of children undergoing surgical intervention used the internet. Of these, 74.3% of parents searched for information before surgery, and 26.1% searched for information after. Most parents searched for information on the care provider's website. Two thirds of parents reported that information found online had increased their understanding of the child's condition. Multivariate analyses indicated that families living far from the hospital (> 43 km) were more likely to search for health information (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.34-4.00), as were families of patients undergoing a major surgery (OR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.04-4.11).
Parents of children undergoing surgery often search online for information on their child's intervention, in particular those whose child is scheduled for a major surgery and those living far from the hospital. A survey like the present one allows to understand parents' information needs, to better guide them in online information seeking and to better tailor information provided on the care provider's website.
人们越来越多地在网上搜索健康信息。特别是，患者的家长经常将互联网作为健康信息的来源。我们进行了一项调查，以调查在意大利一家儿科医院接受手术的<18 岁患者的家长的在线搜索行为。
这项横断面调查嵌套在一项针对手术程序的前瞻性队列研究中。在意大利罗马 Bambino Gesù 儿童医院接受手术的患者的家长在手术后通过电话被招募并联系。我们记录了社会人口统计学数据、性别、手术后的住院时间、住所与医院的距离、在干预前后使用互联网搜索手术信息以及在线信息的效果。
大多数（91%）接受手术干预的儿童的家长使用互联网。其中，74.3%的家长在手术前搜索信息，26.1%的家长在手术后搜索信息。大多数家长在医疗服务提供者的网站上搜索信息。三分之二的家长表示，网上搜索到的信息增加了他们对孩子病情的了解。多变量分析表明，居住在离医院较远（>43 公里）的家庭更有可能搜索健康信息（OR 2.3；95%CI 1.34-4.00），而接受大手术的患者家庭（OR=2.1；95%CI 1.04-4.11）也是如此。
接受手术的儿童的家长经常在网上搜索他们孩子手术的信息，特别是那些孩子要接受大手术的家长和那些居住在离医院较远的家长。像这样的调查可以帮助了解家长的信息需求，更好地指导他们在网上搜索信息，并更好地针对医疗服务提供者的网站提供信息。
