BACKGROUND
The popularisation of Internet access has made it one of the basic sources of information (in this article, the term “Internet” is understood as different kinds of: websites, blogs, social networking sites, such as: Facebook, Twitter, etc.; text messages, including: email, skype, other instant messengers; discussion forums). This relates also to health and its correlates.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of the study was to evaluate the scale of the phenomenon of using the Internet to look for health information in Poland. The aim of the study was also to evaluate the influence of information about health published in the network on the behaviour of internet users.
METHODS
A questionnaire-based survey (face-to-face interview) was carried out among a representative group of 1000 inhabitants of Poland aged 15 years and older.
RESULTS
Among the 1000 respondents surveyed in this study, 670 (67%) declared using the Internet, more than half of which (53.7%) reported seeking, among others, health information. The most commonly sought information included: diet and healthy eating (33.3%), a particular medication or dietary supplement (its effect, dosage, side effects) (28.9%), reviews of doctors (26.7%), and how other people coped with similar health problems (25.3%). More than 53% of Internet health information seekers were driven by curiosity, 46.4% by the ease and speed of finding information, 32.5% by the opportunity of finding a lot of independent reviews in one place, and 29.7% by no extra costs.
CONCLUSIONS
The importance of the Internet as a source of information about health is constantly increasing. Our study presents that in Poland, women, younger, well-educated, living in big cities, especially often look for health information on the web. However most people have limited trust in the data derived from that source. The influence of information about health published in the network on people's behaviour could be less than is commonly believed.