A webometric analysis of online health information: sponsorship, platform type and link structures

Chinese Patients' Intention to Use Different Types of Internet Hospitals: Cross-sectional Study on Virtual Visits

Background

The issuing of regulation schemes and the expanding health insurance coverage for virtual visits of internet hospitals would incentivize Chinese providers and patients to use virtual visits tremendously. China’s internet hospitals vary in sponsorship. However, little is known about patients’ intention to use virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals.

Objective

The goal of the research is to examine patients’ intention to use virtual visits, as well as virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals. In addition, we will identify determinants of patients’ intention to use virtual visits, as well as intention to use virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey of 1653 participants was conducted in 3-tier hospitals in 3 cities with different income levels in May and June 2019. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors that affect patients’ intention to use virtual visits. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the determinants of the intention to use virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals (ie, enterprise-sponsored, hospital-sponsored, and government-sponsored).

Results

A total of 76.64% (1145/1494) of adult participants were online medical information seekers, and 87.06% (969/1113) of online medical information seekers had intention to use virtual visits. Public hospital–sponsored internet hospitals were the most prevalent ones among Chinese patients (473/894, 52.9%), followed by the provincial government internet hospital platform (238/894, 26.6%), digital health companies (116/894, 13.0%), medical e-commerce companies (48/894, 5.4%), private hospitals (13/894, 1.5%), and other companies (6/894, 0.7%). Gender, education, monthly income, and consumer type were significantly associated with the intention to use virtual visits. Gender, age, education, city income level, consumer type, and trust in the sponsor of a health website were significantly associated with the patient’s intention to use virtual visits delivered by 3 different sponsorship types of internet hospitals.

Conclusions

Chinese patients who were online medical information seekers had high intention to use virtual visits and had different intentions to use virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals. Public hospitals, the government, and digital health companies were the top 3 sponsorship types of internet hospitals that patients had intention to use. Trust in a health website sponsor significantly influenced the patient’s intention to use virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals. Gender, education, and consumer type were the factors significantly associated with both the intention to use virtual visits and the intention to use virtual visits delivered by different sponsorship types of internet hospitals.

Does the ownership of health website matter? A cross-sectional study on Chinese consumer behavior

BACKGROUND

Ownership has significant impact on website motivation. Consumers may heavily rely on the health website ownership cue when assessing credibility and making behavioral response toward health information on it. Health websites were primarily divided into four different ownership types (i.e., governmental, organizational, commercial, and personal) in China's context. However, research on Chinese consumer behavior toward different ownership types of health websites is scarce.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the most credible and most commonly used health website ownership type among Chinese consumers, and to identify the influencing factors on perceived credibility, and actual usage of health websites.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of 1653 participants was conducted in 3-tier hospitals in 3 cities with different income levels. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors influencing Chinese consumers' perceived credibility and actual use of health websites.

RESULTS

The most credible health website was the organizational, followed by the governmental, commercial, and personal. The most commonly used health website was the commercial, followed by the organizational, governmental, and personal. Individuals in medium-income and low-income cities were more likely than those in high-income cities to trust and use non-governmental health websites. Compared to the governmental health website, consumers of high-level hospitals were less likely than those of primary hospitals to trust and use personal health websites. Compared to the governmental health website, high-income individuals were more likely than low-income individuals to trust the personal health website, and use the organizational and commercial health website.

CONCLUSIONS

Both Chinese consumers' perceived credibility and actual use of health website varied by ownership, and there was a gap between perceived credibility and actual usage of health website. Most sociodemographic factors had no statistically significant correlations with perceived credibility and actual usage of health website. City income level, consumer type and consumer income level were significantly associated with perceived credibility, actual usage of health websites.

Grieving in the digital era: Mapping online support for grief and bereavement

OBJECTIVE

To describe the landscape of digital resources available for grief and bereavement, and to explore cultural variations through the analysis of patterns in three languages with a multinational repartition (English, French and Spanish).

METHODS

For each language, websites were collected through a systematized approach and classified according to their category (governmental, health, educational, social media, conventional media, spiritual), their country of origin, and the type of support they offered (practical support, services, peer support, informational support, resources).

RESULTS

A total of 2587 websites (English: 1003; French 678; Spanish: 906) were analyzed. Cultural variations were observed both for the websites' categories and the types of support. Half of the websites presented at least one type of support, informational support being the most prevalent, followed by practical support. English websites presented significantly more support than Spanish websites, with French websites in between.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

By using an extensive survey, our results allow for a general mapping of online websites that is comparable across languages, but also unveil digital dynamics unknown to date. These results further the multicultural understanding of digital support for grief and bereavement, propose an innovative and operational typology for online support and raise awareness of the current support landscape.

Toward a maturity model for the application of social media in healthcare

Purpose

The advent of new technologies and change of patients’ behavioral patterns have triggered the provision of medical services through social media. Although the intersection between social media and health has received considerable research attention, there is little research on how health institutions implement social media strategy; thus a roadmap is required to navigate these technological initiatives. So, the purpose of this paper is to overcome this challenge by developing the Health 2.0 maturity model in the healthcare field.

Design/methodology/approach

To obtain this aim, the mixed method was applied in this research. In the first step, qualitative research method was used. In this step, along with comprehensive literature review, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the healthcare professionals to find the practices and capabilities of Health 2.0. In the second step, the proposed key dimensions (KD) were assessed and prioritized based on the views of the healthcare professionals using the quantitative survey method. Finally, by considering the architecture of Health 2.0 maturity model, the KDs were assigned to maturity levels based on their priority of implementation using a focus group.

Findings

The proposed maturity model is composed of six KDs and five maturity levels based on the Capability Maturity Model Integration architecture. The KDs, as well as their implementation order and weights in the proposed maturity model are presented as a roadmap for applying Health 2.0 effectively.

Practical implications

Employing the Health 2.0 maturity model enables health institutions to assess the current social media capabilities and guide them to select appropriate strategies for progress. Due to the descriptive nature of the proposed model, it allows managers to conduct process-based assessments regarding health 2.0 implementation.

Originality/value

Health 2.0 has been a recurring theme on the agenda of healthcare institutions, but no sensitive tool is available to measure its growth processes. This paper explores the much ignored but critically important subject of Health 2.0 maturity model and its implementation roadmap. The main contribution of this paper is to introduce an integrated roadmap containing the most important capabilities of Health 2.0. The proposed model is both descriptive and prescriptive in nature, and has a significant theoretical contribution to healthcare studies. This paper provides a mechanism to benchmark Health 2.0 efforts and to develop a progressive strategy that would improve its activities.

Hit count estimate variability for website-specific queries in search engines

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the chosen search engine results page (SERP) on the website-specific hit count estimation indicator.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 100 Spanish rare disease association websites is analysed, obtaining the website-specific hit count estimation for the first and last SERPs in two search engines (Google and Bing) at two different periods in time (2016 and 2017).

Findings

It has been empirically demonstrated that there are differences between the number of hits returned on the first and last SERP in both Google and Bing. These differences are significant when they exceed a threshold value on the first SERP.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies considering other samples, more SERPs and generating different queries other than website page count (<site>) would be desirable to draw more general conclusions on the nature of quantitative data provided by general search engines.

Practical implications

Selecting a wrong SERP to calculate some metrics (in this case, website-specific hit count estimation) might provide misleading results, comparisons and performance rankings. The empirical data suggest that the first SERP captures the differences between websites better because it has a greater discriminating power and is more appropriate for webometric longitudinal studies.

Social implications

The findings allow improving future quantitative webometric analyses based on website-specific hit count estimation metrics in general search engines.

Originality/value

The website-specific hit count estimation variability between SERPs has been empirically analysed, considering two different search engines (Google and Bing), a set of 100 websites focussed on a similar market (Spanish rare diseases associations), and two annual samples, making this study the most exhaustive on this issue to date.

Where people look for online health information

OBJECTIVES

To identify health-related websites Americans are using, demographic characteristics associated with certain website type and how website type shapes users' online information seeking experiences.

METHODS

Data from the Health Information National Trends Survey 4 Cycle 1 were used. User-identified websites were categorised into four types: government sponsored, commercially based, academically affiliated and search engines. Logistic regression analyses examined associations between users' sociodemographic characteristics and website type, and associations between website type and information search experience.

RESULTS

Respondents reported using: commercial websites (71.8%), followed by a search engines (11.6%), academically affiliated sites (11.1%) and government-sponsored websites (5.5%). Older age was associated with the use of academic websites (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.02, 1.04); younger age with commercial website use (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95, 0.98). Search engine use predicted increased levels of frustration, effort and concern over website information quality, while commercial website use predicted decreased levels of these same measures.

DISCUSSION

Health information seekers experience varying levels of frustration, effort and concern related to their online searching.

CONCLUSION

There is a need for continued efforts by librarians and health care professionals to train seekers of online health information to select websites using established guidelines and quality criteria.

Health Advice from Internet Discussion Forums: How Bad Is Dangerous?

BACKGROUND

Concerns over online health information-seeking behavior point to the potential harm incorrect, incomplete, or biased information may cause. However, systematic reviews of health information have found few examples of documented harm that can be directly attributed to poor quality information found online.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of the quality and quality characteristics of information found in online discussion forum websites so that their likely value as a peer-to-peer health information-sharing platform could be assessed.

METHODS

A total of 25 health discussion threads were selected across 3 websites (Reddit, Mumsnet, and Patient) covering 3 health conditions (human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], diabetes, and chickenpox). Assessors were asked to rate information found in the discussion threads according to 5 criteria: accuracy, completeness, how sensible the replies were, how they thought the questioner would act, and how useful they thought the questioner would find the replies.

RESULTS

In all, 78 fully completed assessments were returned by 17 individuals (8 were qualified medical doctors, 9 were not). When the ratings awarded in the assessments were analyzed, 25 of the assessments placed the discussion threads in the highest possible score band rating them between 5 and 10 overall, 38 rated them between 11 and 15, 12 rated them between 16 and 20, and 3 placed the discussion thread they assessed in the lowest rating band (21-25). This suggests that health threads on Internet discussion forum websites are more likely than not (by a factor of 4:1) to contain information of high or reasonably high quality. Extremely poor information is rare; the lowest available assessment rating was awarded only 11 times out of a possible 353, whereas the highest was awarded 54 times. Only 3 of 78 fully completed assessments rated a discussion thread in the lowest possible overall band of 21 to 25, whereas 25 of 78 rated it in the highest of 5 to 10. Quality assessments differed depending on the health condition (chickenpox appeared 17 times in the 20 lowest-rated threads, HIV twice, and diabetes once). Although assessors tended to agree on which discussion threads contained good quality information, what constituted poor quality information appeared to be more subjective.

CONCLUSIONS

Most of the information assessed in this study was considered by qualified medical doctors and nonmedically qualified respondents to be of reasonably good quality. Although a small amount of information was assessed as poor, not all respondents agreed that the original questioner would have been led to act inappropriately based on the information presented. This suggests that discussion forum websites may be a useful platform through which people can ask health-related questions and receive answers of acceptable quality.