The difference in the online medical information searching behaviors of hospital patients and their relatives versus the general public

The purpose of this study is two-fold: to explore the differences in online medical information searching behaviors, including evaluative standards and search strategies, of the general public (general group) and those of hospital patients and their relatives (hospital group); and to compare the predictive relationship between the evaluative standards and search strategies of the two groups. A Medical Information Searching-behavior Survey (MISS) was administered. A total of 247 people in the hospital group were surveyed while they were in hospital, and 293 volunteers in the general group were surveyed. The results reveal that the hospital group showed higher tendencies to verify online medical information with mixed evaluative standards and to use more sophisticated search strategies than the general public group after comparing the descriptive results. From the results of regression analysis, the evaluative standards of the hospital group play a less important role in their search strategies. In contrast, the significant relationships between the evaluative standards and search strategies are relatively complex in the general group. Even though some of their evaluative standards are significant factors for predicting search strategies, other factors should be considered in future studies to fruitfully explain their online medical information searching behaviors.