BAPS paperInformation on the World Wide Web—how useful is it for parents?
Section snippets
Method
We constructed a 4-page option-based questionnaire regarding parental use of the Internet in seeking more information about their child's condition. A preliminary version of the questionnaire was tried on a small group of parents of pediatric inpatients to assess question construction and time to complete the exercise. The results from the pilot are not included in the analysis.
The final version was constructed and used for the study (Appendix A).
The questionnaires were handed out to the
Results
There were 274 questionnaires handed out. Three were excluded because there were questionnaires completed regarding the same patients but filled in at different attendances. The earlier answers were analyzed, and the latter excluded. A final number of 271 questionnaires were collected and analyzed at the end of the study period. The makeup of the respondents is shown in Table 1.
Fifty-three percent (144) of responders had accessed the Internet to seek more information regarding their children's
Discussion
This study highlights both the fact that there is a large amount of information present on the World Wide Web and that a large proportion of parents are prepared to access this information in an effort to understand more about their child's condition.
Our study has shown that 94% of parents who had used the Internet found it useful, especially in providing more information about their child's diagnosis. Studies in other subspecialties in the UK found similar results. Of the 32% of parents who
Conclusion
The Internet is a useful educational tool in teaching parents about their child's condition. Parental use of the Internet is already widespread and may need to be specifically addressed during consultation. The best way to ensure parents have access to quality and accurate information about their child's condition on the World Wide Web, hence providing support, is to provide it ourselves.
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Consumer durables: 78% of households have a mobile phone
Internet access: 64% of adults access the Internet
News roundup: a third of Europeans and almost half of Americans use Internet for health information
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Cited by (0)
Presented at the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons 53rd Annual International Congress, Stockholm, Sweden, July 18-22, 2006.