JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Medical blogs and social media communities have become a significant and valuable source of patient and caregiver information. While most research has focused on the creation of this content as therapy or to help others, less is known about the readership of this content and what format of information influences consumer preventative health behaviors.

Objective:

To identify the influence of reading consumer-generated medical blogs or social media on participants’ preventative health behaviors, including the influence of the reader’s perceived risk.

Methods:

We developed a survey instrument used in a behavioral research lab to 99 participants and in a general population consumer panel to 167 participants, both of which used randomized conditions and evaluated consumer perceptions of the viewed blogs, future health behaviors, self-reported risk assessment, and analysis of open-ended comments. The second study extended the first and added a control condition to establish the effectiveness of any type of blog content on behavioral health intentions. A third study employed a convenience sample of 43 real blog readers to probe further motivations and outcomes from the consumption of medical blogs.

Results:

Across three studies, consumer-generated health blogs influenced the future health behavioral intentions of their readers. While all blog types led to greater personal planned behavior change compared to a no blog control condition (Study 2: F3,166 = 2.59, p = .055), blogs featuring statistics rather than personal narratives consistently drove the most significant intention (Study 1: F2,96 = 6.08, p = .003). The perceived risk of the reader did not influence the strength of the relationship between the reading of health blog information and behavioral intention, while in one study, perceived barriers to accessing care improved the fit of a model regressing blog type on behavioral health intentions (F2,95 = 13.57, p < .001). Additionally, open-ended comments were coded, with motivations to read blogs include keeping up with the author (patient) and learning general health information. In a sample of real medical blog readers, 56% reported taking some personal preventative health action because of reading a health blog. Key behavioral outcomes include performing a self-check, making a physician appointment, asking a doctor about their own health risk, or requesting a screening test. Across all studies, readers expressed that the blogs were somewhat sad and emotional but also informative and well-written, and they noted that the blogs made them appreciate their life more and motivated them to take some action regarding their own health.

Conclusions:

Simply reading patient-generated health blog content influences future behavioral health-related intentions, but the format of the information (general content, personal stories, or statistics-focused posts) show different efficacy. The reader’s self-perceived risk does not moderate this relationship, and physicians and medical practitioners may find it useful to curate and distribute selected medical blogs to influence future positive health-related behaviors.