{"id":95812,"date":"2009-11-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-20T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2009\/11\/20\/participatory-culture-health-care\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:17:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:17:48","slug":"participatory-culture-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2009\/11\/20\/participatory-culture-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Participatory Culture + Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

A big part of my job, and one I love, is answering questions, mostly from reporters. Sometimes I have just the data or insight someone needs, often I recommend someone else.<\/p>\n\n

Here is a sample of frequently-asked questions and my current answers. Please add your <\/i>questions and answers in the comments<\/a>: What are you curious about when it comes to technology’s impact on health care? What resources do you recommend?<\/p>\n\n

Is a cultural shift affecting health care?<\/b> <\/p>\n\n

Yes. Thanks to the internet, people increasingly expect to have access to information.\u00a0 They increasingly expect to be able to comment on and easily share information.\u00a0 And it turns out that participation matters<\/a> as much as access.<\/p>\n\n

This is my favorite topic and I could talk for hours (or for 4:21<\/a>; 4:44<\/a>; 3:06<\/a>; or 4:50<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

How do people judge the quality of health information online?<\/b> <\/p>\n\n

The best they can<\/a>, but probably not the way you think they should. However, we may have bigger fish to fry in health care.<\/p>\n\n

Follow me on this one: Most people’s first stop<\/a> for health information is a general search site. Google dominates<\/a> the search market. A British Medical Journal<\/i> article found that Google is a pretty good diagnostician<\/a>. Very few<\/a> people report bad outcomes from their online health research.<\/p>\n\n

UPDATE<\/b>: I stand corrected on my citation of \u201cGoogling for a diagnosis\u201d thanks to the comments <\/a>on e-patients.net and those attached <\/a>to the original BMJ article. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n

But wait, who’s in charge of vetting health information online? Shouldn’t we be concerned about this?<\/b>
<\/i><\/p>\n\n

Nobody’s “in charge” and to some degree, yes. The base of the internet population<\/a> is broadening to include people with less education and lower health literacy\/numeracy. E-patients with a high school degree or less are more likely than better-educated e-patients to say they were confused <\/a>by the health information they found online. But note that the two groups are equally likely (and more likely) to say they felt confident to raise new questions or concerns with their doctor, too.<\/p>\n\n

For more on the “who’s in charge” and “what advice can we give consumers” please see:<\/p>\n\n