Comments on: A Web Science Approach to Online Health Behaviours http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/2013/11/08/web-science-approach-online-health-behaviours/ Web Science MOOC Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:54:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.14 By: Katie Smith http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/2013/11/08/web-science-approach-online-health-behaviours/#comment-191 Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:01:27 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/?p=280#comment-191 Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your feedback to my response. You are right in pointing out that the cost element will apply to only some US and probably even world wide web users. Curiosity and people’s impatience may also be a [large] factor. Obtaining a doctors appointment (certainly in Britain at the moment) can be like an obstacle race – a quick glance at the internet for symptoms and you may be able to delete that obstacle… or as you inferred it may make things far worse and create a fear based on inaccurate, unprofessional information -that basically anyone could have placed on the internet!.

Mm, the thought process goes on and on.

]]> By: Lisa Sugiura http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/2013/11/08/web-science-approach-online-health-behaviours/#comment-180 Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:17:06 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/?p=280#comment-180 Hi Katie,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, as you correctly point out the evidence provided is from the US and so we need to be mindful of differing contexts and regulation in different countries. The motivations you mention may explain the behaviour of some US citizens, and certainly there are many positive and empowering factors about the advent of online health information and health technologies. However, the risks are still significant, and we know very little about how people make their online healthcare choices, or what influences them (is it on or offline information/ experience etc.). Statistics also tend to focus on individual jurisdictions rather than globally, and so it is exceptionally difficult to appreciate the full situation. Alternatively it is also difficult to try to scale the focus down to just one country as inevitably the Web challenges jurisdictional borders. Anyway here’s some UK statistics to provide a bit more of the UK context:

Figures published by the Office of National Statistics in 2008 claimed that 34% of all UK Internet users have used it to seek health-related information, and the 2009 Oxford Internet Survey (Dutton, et al. 2009) found that 68% of British Internet users had searched for health information online.

Best wishes

Lisa

]]> By: Katie Smith http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/2013/11/08/web-science-approach-online-health-behaviours/#comment-151 Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:09:38 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/websci/?p=280#comment-151 The survey you mention is based in the US. The healthcare in the US is costly as they do not have a health care system such as the NHS. I am assuming (maybe I shouldn’t!) that if people have to pay large costs for medicines then they are going to want the best deal? The web has enabled us all to search for anything we want within seconds and for the best/cheapest price possible. For the long-term sick or people with terminal illnesses and no health insurance, the internet may be the answer to their problems.

This would also answer why some people aren’t going to their doctors for diagnosis – cost is a huge factor in human behaviour. There are risks involved in self-diagnosis or internet-diagnosis – probably more than people realise.

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