TY - JOUR
T1 - The National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey [HINTS]
T2 - A national cross-sectional analysis of talking to your doctor and other healthcare providers for health information
AU - Volkman, Julie E.
AU - Luger, Tana M.
AU - Harvey, Kimberly L.L.
AU - Hogan, Timothy P.
AU - Shimada, Stephanie L.
AU - Amante, Daniel
AU - McInnes, D. Keith
AU - Feng, Hua
AU - Houston, Thomas K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, eHealth Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) EHQ 10–190 at the Bedford, MA Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Drs. Volkman, Luger, Hogan, Shimada, McInnes, Feng, Houston, and Ms. Harvey, and Mr. Amante’s efforts were supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government. A subset of these analyses was presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting, March 2013.
PY - 2014/6/6
Y1 - 2014/6/6
N2 - Background: The need to understand preferred sources of health information remains important to providing patient-centered care. The Internet remains a popular resource for health information, but more traditional sources may still be valid for patients during a recent health need. This study sought to understand the characteristics of patients that turn to their doctor or healthcare provider first for a recent health or medical information need. Methods. Using the national cross-sectional survey, Health Information National Trend Study [HINTS], characteristics of those who sought a doctor or healthcare provider for a recent health information need were compared to other sources. Weighted survey responses from Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 of the HINTS survey were used for multivariable logistic regression. Results: A total 5,307 patient responses were analyzed. Overall, those who seek a doctor or healthcare provider first for a health need are female, 46-64 years, White non-Hispanic, educated, in good health and users of the Internet. Yet, adjusted logistic regressions showed that those who sought a doctor or healthcare provider first during a recent health information need compared to other sources were most likely to be 65+ years, in poor health, less educated and have health insurance. Conclusions: Patients who seek their doctor or healthcare provider first for health information rather than other sources of information represent a unique population. Doctors or healthcare providers remain an important resource for these patients during recent needs, despite the wide use of the Internet as a source of health information.
AB - Background: The need to understand preferred sources of health information remains important to providing patient-centered care. The Internet remains a popular resource for health information, but more traditional sources may still be valid for patients during a recent health need. This study sought to understand the characteristics of patients that turn to their doctor or healthcare provider first for a recent health or medical information need. Methods. Using the national cross-sectional survey, Health Information National Trend Study [HINTS], characteristics of those who sought a doctor or healthcare provider for a recent health information need were compared to other sources. Weighted survey responses from Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 of the HINTS survey were used for multivariable logistic regression. Results: A total 5,307 patient responses were analyzed. Overall, those who seek a doctor or healthcare provider first for a health need are female, 46-64 years, White non-Hispanic, educated, in good health and users of the Internet. Yet, adjusted logistic regressions showed that those who sought a doctor or healthcare provider first during a recent health information need compared to other sources were most likely to be 65+ years, in poor health, less educated and have health insurance. Conclusions: Patients who seek their doctor or healthcare provider first for health information rather than other sources of information represent a unique population. Doctors or healthcare providers remain an important resource for these patients during recent needs, despite the wide use of the Internet as a source of health information.
KW - Doctor-patient communication
KW - Health information needs
KW - National cross-sectional survey
KW - Sources for health information
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U2 - 10.1186/1471-2296-15-111
DO - 10.1186/1471-2296-15-111
M3 - Article
C2 - 24906558
AN - SCOPUS:84902549485
SN - 1471-2296
VL - 15
JO - BMC Family Practice
JF - BMC Family Practice
IS - 1
M1 - 111
ER -