Internet Usage within Healthcare: How College Students Use the Internet to Obtain Health Information

Abstract

To better understand how college students are using the internet for healthcare, 100 undergraduate students were anonymously surveyed regarding their primary sources of health information and their utilization and trust in seven common health websites (Healthline, Mayo Clinic, MedicineNet, NIH, WebMD, Wikipedia, and Yahoo! Health). The internet was the dominant source of health information for college students and students had high trust in most internet sources. However, trust was only weakly correlated with the likeliness of use of a particular health website. Healthcare providers should consider discussing internet-based health resources with patients to facilitate best management of personal healthcare.

Keywords:

• College students
• healthcare
• online information

Acknowledgements

We thank Phil Lombardo for statistical advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Grace Kwan

Grace Kwan, PhD ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor of Biology, Endicott College, School of Arts and Sciences, 376 Hale Street, Beverly, MA 01915.

Joyce A. Shaw

Joyce Shaw, DPT ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor of Biology, Endicott College, School of Arts and Sciences, 376 Hale Street, Beverly, MA 01915.

Lauren Murnane

Lauren Murnane, BS is a graduate of the Bio/Biotechnology program, Endicott College, School of Arts and Sciences, 376 Hale Street, Beverly, MA 01915.