Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 5, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: May 9, 2018 - Jul 4, 2018
Date Accepted: Apr 27, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Use of Web-Based Health Services in Individuals With and Without Symptoms of Hypochondria: Survey Study
Background:
An increasing number of people consult physicians because of distressing information found online. Cyberchondria refers to the phenomenon of health anxiety because of online health information.
Objective:
This study aimed to examine online health research of individuals with and without symptoms of hypochondria and their impact on health anxiety as well as behavior.
Methods:
An online survey was conducted. Demographic data, health-related internet use, and general health behavior were assessed. The illness attitude scale was used to record symptoms of hypochondria.
Results:
The final sample consisted of N=471 participants. More than 40% (188/471) of participants showed at least some symptoms of hypochondria. Participants with symptoms of hypochondria used the internet more frequently for health-related purposes and also frequented more online services than individuals without symptoms. Most online health services were rated as more reliable by individuals with symptoms of hypochondria. Changes to behavior such as doctor hopping or ordering nonprescribed medicine online were considered more likely by individuals with symptoms of hypochondria.
Conclusions:
Results show that individuals with symptoms of hypochondria do not turn to online research as a result of lacking alternatives but rather consult health services on- as well as offline.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.