JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Users with eating disorder experience use the Internet as a source of information, whether for pro-recovery activities (such as online treatment, looking for information, support, sharing, etc.) or activities that promote eating disorder behavior as a desirable lifestyle choice (such as pro-eating disorder communities, reading and creating pro-eating disorder posts, etc.). Their assessment of online eating disorder-related information can be crucial for understanding the context of illness and for health professionals and their online interventions.

Objective:

This study aimed to understand what criteria young women with eating disorder experience use in evaluating eating disorder-related online information and what eating disorder-related characteristics of these women are involved in their evaluation.

Methods:

We analyzed 30 semi-structured individual interviews with Czech women aged 16-28 with past or present eating disorder experience using a qualitative approach. Thematic analysis was adopted as an analytical tool.

Results:

The specifics of eating disorder phases (the "disorder stage" and the "treatment process") emerged as important aspects in the process of information assessment. Other specific characteristics of respondents (such as motivation, abilities, and resources) addressed how respondents arrived at certain online information and how they evaluated it. In addition, respondents described some content cues as the features of information (such as novelty, social information pooling). Another finding is how other users' attitudes, experiences, activities, and personal features are involved in the information evaluation of these users and the information presented by them. Finally, respondents evaluated the websites' visual look and graphic components.

Conclusions:

The present study shows that online information evaluation reported by women with eating disorder experience is a complex process. The assessment is influenced by current personal characteristics connected to the illness (mainly the motivation for maintaining or curing the eating disorder), using cues associated with information content, other users, and website look. Study findings enlighten important implications for health professionals, who should ask their clients questions about online communities and their needs to understand what information and sources they choose.