JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder with a high burden of disease. People affected with psoriasis increasingly use the internet for health-related reasons, especially those with younger age, higher education, and higher disease severity. Despite the advantages like enhancing the individuals’ knowledge, in the use of digital media for health-related issues, disadvantages were also present such as quality control, and variability in the individuals’ health information literacy. While patients with psoriasis within medical settings generally trust physicians over digital media, they commonly withhold their online research findings from healthcare providers.

Objective:

The study aimed (1) to identify further factors associated with regular psoriasis-related internet use, (2) to evaluate specific digital media platforms used, and (3) its impact on the physician-patient relationship among individuals within and beyond medical settings.

Methods:

A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among individuals with self-reported psoriasis in Germany between September 2021 and February 2022. Participants were recruited via digital media platforms and in-person at a University hospital Department of Dermatology in southern Germany. The questionnaire asked about demographic and medical information, individual psoriasis-related digital media use, and the impact of digital media on the physician-patient relationship. Data was analyzed descriptively and logistic regression models were performed to assess the factors associated with regular psoriasis-related internet use.

Results:

Among 321 individuals (median age 53.0 years, IQR 41.0-61.0 years, non-normally distributed; females: 195/321) female gender, shorter disease duration, moderate physical and mental burden of disease, and good self-assessed psoriasis-related knowledge were associated with regular psoriasis-related internet use. Of the 188 participants (mean age 51.2 years, SD 13.9 years, normally distributed) who used digital media 106 (56.4%) usually searched for information on psoriasis-based websites and 98 (52.1%) on search engines, primarily for obtaining information about the disease and therapy options, while social media were less frequently utilized (49/188, 26.1%). Nearly two-thirds of internet users (125/188) were not recommended a digital media platform by their physicians. About 44% (82/188) of the individuals reported to seek for additional information due to the insufficient information provided by their physician.

Conclusions:

This study revealed the importance of digital media in the context of psoriasis, especially among women, individuals with shorter disease duration, and moderate physical and mental disease severity. The lack of physicians’ digital media recommendations despite their patients’ desire to receive such and being more involved in health-related decisions proved to be a shortcoming within the physician-patient relationships. Physicians should guide their patients on digital media by recommending media platforms with evidence-based information to create an adequate framework for shared decision-making. Future research should focus on further analyzing individual digital media platforms related to psoriasis and address the needs of patients and physicians to enhance health-related digital media offerings.