Dataset Information

The Role of Web-Based Health Information in Help-Seeking Behavior Prior to a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Delays to diagnosis in lung cancer can lead to reduced chance of survival, and patients often wait for several months before presenting symptoms. The time between first symptom recognition until diagnosis has been theorized into three intervals: symptom appraisal, help-seeking, and diagnostic interval (here: "pathway to diagnosis"). Interventions are needed to reduce delays to diagnosis in lung cancer. The Web has become an important lay health information source and could potentially play a role in this pathway to diagnosis.

Objective

Our overall aim was to gain a preliminary insight into whether Web-based information plays a role in the pathway to diagnosis in lung cancer in order to assess whether it may be possible to leverage this information source to reduce delays to diagnosis.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with lung cancer in the 6 months before study entry completed a survey about whether (and how, if yes) they had used the Web to appraise their condition prior to diagnosis. Based on survey responses, we purposively sampled patients and their next-of-kin for semistructured interviews (24 interviews; 33 participants). Interview data were analyzed qualitatively using Framework Analysis in the context of the pathway to diagnosis model.

Results

A total of 113 patients completed the survey (age: mean 67.0, SD 8.8 years). In all, 20.4% (23/113) reported they or next-of-kin had researched their condition online before the diagnosis. The majority of searches (20/23, 87.0%) were conducted by or with the help of next-of-kin. Interview results suggest that patients and next-of-kin perceived an impact of the information found online on all three intervals in the time to diagnosis. In the appraisal interval, participants used online information to evaluate symptoms and possible causes. In the help-seeking interval, the Web was used to inform the decision of whether to present to health services. In the diagnostic interval, it was used to evaluate health care professionals' advice, to support requests for further investigation of symptoms, and to understand medical jargon. Within this interval, we identified two distinct subintervals (before/after relevant diagnostic tests were initiated), in which the Web reportedly played different roles.

Conclusions

Because only 20.4% of the sample reported prediagnosis Web searches, it seems the role of the Web before diagnosis of lung cancer is at present still limited, but this proportion is likely to increase in the future, when barriers such as unfamiliarity with technology and unwillingness to be informed about one's own health are likely to decrease. Participants' perceptions suggest that the Web can have an impact on all three intervals in the pathway to diagnosis. Thus, the Web may hold the potential to reduce delays in the diagnostic process, and this should be explored in future research and interventions. Our results also suggest a division of the diagnostic interval into two subintervals may be useful.

SUBMITTER: Mueller J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5481662 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The Role of Web-Based Health Information in Help-Seeking Behavior Prior to a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Mueller Julia J Jay Caroline C Harper Simon S Todd Chris C

Journal of medical Internet research 20170608 6

<h4>Background</h4>Delays to diagnosis in lung cancer can lead to reduced chance of survival, and patients often wait for several months before presenting symptoms. The time between first symptom recognition until diagnosis has been theorized into three intervals: symptom appraisal, help-seeking, and diagnostic interval (here: "pathway to diagnosis"). Interventions are needed to reduce delays to diagnosis in lung cancer. The Web has become an important lay health information source and could pot ...[more]

PMID: 28596146

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Project description:Raising public awareness of sepsis, a potentially life-threatening dysregulated host response to infection, to hasten its recognition has become a major focus of physicians, investigators, and both non-governmental and governmental agencies. While the internet is a common means by which to seek out healthcare information, little is understood about patterns and drivers of these behaviors. We sought to examine traffic to Wikipedia, a popular and publicly available online encyclopedia, to better understand how, when, and why users access information about sepsis. Utilizing pageview traffic data for all available language localizations of the sepsis and septic shock pages between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2018, significantly outlying daily pageview totals were identified using a seasonal hybrid extreme studentized deviate approach. Consecutive outlying days were aggregated, and a qualitative analysis was undertaken of print and online news media coverage to identify potential correlates. Traffic patterns were further characterized using paired referrer to resource (i.e. clickstream) data, which were available for a temporal subset of the pageviews. Of the 20,557,055 pageviews across 65 linguistic localizations, 47 of the 1,096 total daily pageview counts were identified as upward outliers. After aggregating sequential outlying days, 25 epochs were examined. Qualitative analysis identified at least one major news media correlate for each, which were typically related to high-profile deaths from sepsis and, less commonly, awareness promotion efforts. Clickstream analysis suggests that most sepsis and septic shock Wikipedia pageviews originate from external referrals, namely search engines. Owing to its granular and publicly available traffic data, Wikipedia holds promise as a means by which to better understand global drivers of online sepsis information seeking. Further characterization of user engagement with this information may help to elucidate means by which to optimize the visibility, content, and delivery of awareness promotion efforts.

Dataset Information

The Role of Web-Based Health Information in Help-Seeking Behavior Prior to a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

The Role of Web-Based Health Information in Help-Seeking Behavior Prior to a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Study.

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