Analysis of Internet Usage Patterns of Health Consumers for Internet Health Information Assessment Criteria

Objectives: In this paper, the survey on internet usage patterns of health consumers was conducted and analyzed in order to determine internet health information assessment criteria for providing correct consumer health information on web-sites. Methods: By using a survey questionnaire with 16 questions on general information and 20 questions on internet health information, data were collected from September 16 to 25, 2005 from 476 participants through an internet web site, http://www.hp.go.kr. Frequency analysis, t-test, and multiple regression were used in order to analyze the difference in assessment criteria, factors influencing assessment criteria, factors influencing user satisfaction, etc. Results: General characteristics of the study population were: the persons over age 40 were the smallest age group; women were accounted for 74.2%; and the persons with average income were the largest income group; and the persons with average health status were the largest health group. Most widely used health information were: exercise, disease, and diet, in order. There was significant difference(p=.001) in importance of assessment criteria between the persons in medical institutions and the persons not in medical institutions. There was no significant difference in other assessment criteria. We also found that contents of websites and easy to use were more important factors than elucidation of information providers and information sources including speciality of information in quality assessment criteria of internet health information. Discussion and Conclusion: Results of this paper were compared with the previous studies from the literatures. Contrary to the previous studies in the literature, there was significant difference in importance of assessment criteria between the persons in medical institutions and the persons not in medical institutions. In order to apply the study results to develop health contents for consumer, there is a need for further upgrade the proposed assessment criteria based on expert opinion.