Open AccessAutodiagnóstico y búsqueda de información médica online: el caso chileno
Author(s) -
Daniel Halpern,
Macarena Peña-y-Lillo,
Francisco Goic,
Alejandra Reinoso-Aguiló,
Camila Figueroa-Zepeda,
Axel Troncoso-Leiva
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
el profesional de la informacion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1699-2407
pISSN - 1386-6710
DOI - 10.3145/epi.2015.sep.10
Subject(s) - the internet , affect (linguistics) , sample (material) , internet users , medical information , psychology , phenomenon , latin americans , internet privacy , humanities , medicine , family medicine , political science , world wide web , computer science , art , chemistry , physics , communication , chromatography , quantum mechanics , law
The factors that affect users as they search for health information and conduct a self-diagnosis online among a nationally representative sample of Chileans with internet access were analysed. The results indicate that three groups of variables largely explain this phenomenon: 1) the experiences that users had when commenting to their doctors about what they found online; 2) individual-psychological aspects such as pre-existing medical conditions; and 3) technological factors such as confidence and efficacy regarding internet use. Our research showed that this is a growing trend: more than 90% of respondents said that during the last year they had searched for health information on the internet at least once, while 85% said they had revised their symptoms and self-diagnosed.
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