Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 24, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 27, 2019 - Jul 20, 2019
Date Accepted: Sep 24, 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Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Searching the internet for fertility information: Do online resources meet the needs of patients?
ABSTRACT
Background:
Given the complexity of infertility diagnoses and treatments and the convenience of the Internet for finding health-related information, people undergoing fertility treatments often use online resources to obtain fertility information and support. However, little is known about which types of information and support resources fertility patients search for online and whether these resources meet their needs.
Objective:
The aims of this paper are to (1) examine what individual factors, namely demographic characteristics and distress, are associated with searching online for different types of fertility-related information and support resources, and to (2) investigate whether online resources meet the needs of patients.
Methods:
Men and women seeking fertility care responded to a survey assessing use of online resources for accessing fertility-related information and support. The survey further assessed satisfaction with the online resources, as well as perceived stress and depressive symptomatology.
Results:
A total of 567 participants, comprised of 254 men and 313 women, completed the survey. Most participants (87.8%, 490/558) had searched online for fertility information and support. Searchers were more likely to be women, highly educated, long-term patients and more distressed (P < .05). Causes of infertility, treatment options and scientific literature about infertility were the three most frequently searched topics, whereas ways to discuss treatment with family and friends, surrogacy and ways to find peer support were the three least searched topics. Of those who searched online, 29.1% (142/488) indicated that their needs were not met by online information. Having unmet needs was related to greater levels of perceived stress (P < .01) and depressive symptomatology (P < .05).
Conclusions:
This study provides evidence for the important role of the Internet in accessing fertility information and support while indicating that online resources may not meet the needs of all fertility patients. Distressed patients in particular might benefit from recommendations by health care providers regarding useful online resources. Future development of online resources should be targeted and suitable to fertility patients’ needs.
Citation
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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.