Kaneda Yudai, Ozaki Akihiko, Murakami Michio, Sawano Toyoaki, Nomura Shuhei, Bhandari Divya, Saito Hiroaki, Tsubokura Masaharu, Yamaoka Kazue, Nakata Yoshinori, Tsukada Manabu, Ohira Hiromichi
School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Research Center for Community Health, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, Minamisoma, Japan.
JMIR Cancer. 2024 Aug 21;10:e49897. doi: 10.2196/49897.
Health information seeking via the internet among patients with cancer in disaster-affected areas is underresearched.
This study aims not only to assess the extent and means of web-based health information seeking among patients with cancer living in the disaster-affected area of the 2011 Fukushima triple disaster but also to compare these patterns with those without cancer, identifying distinct and shared factors influencing their web-based health information behaviors.
We surveyed 404 patients (263 with and 141 without cancer) from the surgery department outpatient office at Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, from October 2016 to January 2017. The survey included self-administered questions on internet and digital device use. Descriptive analyses were performed to examine the use patterns of digital devices and the internet and their impact on health information seeking across different age groups of patients with and without cancer. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with web-based health information seeking, stratifying by cancer diagnosis.
The proportion of participants who sought health information on the internet was comparable between patients with cancer and patients without cancer (19% vs 17.4%; P=.71). Digital device use varied significantly with age, with peak smartphone use occurring among the youngest cohorts for both groups. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that patients with cancer using smartphones or tablets daily were significantly more likely to gather web-based health information (odds ratio [OR] for smartphones 3.73, 95% CI 1.58-8.80; OR for tablets 5.08, 95% CI 1.27-20.35). Trust in institutional websites also significantly influenced web-based health information gathering among patients with cancer (OR 2.87, 95% CI 1.13-7.25). Conversely, among patients without cancer, unemployment was associated with a lower likelihood of seeking web-based health information (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.08-0.85), whereas trust in both institutional and personal websites significantly increased this likelihood (OR for institutional websites 6.76, 95% CI 2.19-20.88; OR for personal websites 6.97, 95% CI 1.49-32.58).
This study reveals that a small proportion of both patients with cancer and patients without cancer engage in health information seeking via the internet, influenced by age, digital device use, and trust in institutional websites. Given the growing prevalence of digital literacy, strategies to enhance accessible and reliable web-based health information should be developed, particularly for patients with cancer in postdisaster settings. Future efforts should focus on tailored health communication strategies that address the unique needs of these populations.
受灾地区癌症患者通过互联网获取健康信息的情况研究不足。
本研究旨在评估2011年福岛三重灾难受灾地区癌症患者基于网络获取健康信息的程度和方式，并将这些模式与非癌症患者进行比较，确定影响其基于网络的健康信息行为的不同因素和共同因素。
2016年10月至2017年1月，我们对南相马市立综合医院外科门诊的404名患者（263名癌症患者和141名非癌症患者）进行了调查。该调查包括关于互联网和数字设备使用的自填式问题。进行描述性分析以检查数字设备和互联网的使用模式及其对不同年龄组癌症患者和非癌症患者获取健康信息的影响。使用多变量逻辑回归分析来检查与基于网络的健康信息寻求相关的因素，并按癌症诊断进行分层。
癌症患者和非癌症患者中通过互联网寻求健康信息的参与者比例相当（19%对17.4%；P = 0.71）。数字设备的使用随年龄有显著差异，两组中最年轻的人群智能手机使用量最高。多变量逻辑回归显示，每天使用智能手机或平板电脑的癌症患者更有可能收集基于网络的健康信息（智能手机的优势比[OR]为3.73，95%置信区间1.58 - 8.80；平板电脑的OR为5.08，95%置信区间1.27 - 20.35）。对机构网站的信任也显著影响癌症患者基于网络的健康信息收集（OR为2.87，95%置信区间1.13 - 7.25）。相反，在非癌症患者中，失业与寻求基于网络的健康信息的可能性较低相关（OR为0.26，95%置信区间0.08 - 0.85），而对机构网站和个人网站的信任均显著增加了这种可能性（机构网站的OR为6.76，95%置信区间2.19 - 20.88；个人网站的OR为6.97，95%置信区间1.49 - 32.58）。
本研究表明，一小部分癌症患者和非癌症患者通过互联网获取健康信息，这受到年龄、数字设备使用以及对机构网站信任的影响。鉴于数字素养的日益普及，应制定策略以增强可获取且可靠的基于网络的健康信息，特别是针对灾后环境中的癌症患者。未来的努力应集中在针对这些人群独特需求的定制化健康传播策略上。
