The Psychological Impact of the Internet as a Source of Health Information
Keywords:
Digital Literacy; Health Information; Information Seeking; Internet
Abstract
The internet is a source of health information for people in the digital age. By seeking health information through the internet, information seekers can seek the health information they need quickly and widely. In addition to the positive impact, the internet as a source of health information also has a negative impact on the seeker of information. The purpose of this article is to reveal the negative impact of utilizing the internet as a source of health information in the form of psychological impact. The method used is literature review. The findings of this article are that the internet has a psychological impact in the form of health anxiety. Information seekers who suffer from health anxiety tend to shut themselves off from people, lose concentration at work or study, withdraw from pleasant things, have poor relationships with health experts, drain money, and often feel anxiety symptoms. In response to this problem, information seekers need to equip themselves with digital literacy skills.
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References
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Sbaffi, L., & Rowley, J. (2017). Trust and credibility in web-based health information: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(6), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7579
Singh, K., & Brown, R. J. (2016). From headache to tumour: An examination of health anxiety, health-related Internet use and “query escalation.” Journal of Health Psychology, 21(9), 2008–2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105315569620
Song, H., Omori, K., Kim, J., Tenzek, K. E., Hawkins, J. M., Lin, W. Y., Kim, Y. C., & Jung, J. Y. (2016). Trusting social media as a source of health information: Online surveys comparing the United States, Korea, and Hong Kong. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 18(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4193
Starcevic, V., & Berle, D. (2013). Cyberchondria: Towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 13(2), 205–213. https://doi.org/10.1586/ern.12.162
Tyrer, P., & Tyrer, H. (2018). Health anxiety: detection and treatment. BJPsych Advances, 24(1), 66–72. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2017.5
White, R. W., & Horvitz, E. (2013). Captions and biases in diagnostic search. ACM Transactions on the Web, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1145/2486040
Alwi, S. S. E., Murad, M. A. A., Abdullah, S., & Kamaruddin, A. (2019). Online health information seeking andinformation quality: A preliminarycontemplation. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 9(1), 321–326. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijeat.A2639.109119
Asmundson, G. J. G., & Fergus, T. A. (2019). The Concept of Health Anxiety. In The Clinician’s Guide to Treating Health Anxiety: Diagnosis, Mechanisms, and Effective Treatment. Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811806-1.00001-9
Baumgartner, S. E., & Hartmann, T. (2011). The role of health anxiety in online health information search. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(10), 613–618. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0425
Boot, C. R. L., & Meijman, F. J. (2010). The public and the Internet: Multifaceted drives for seeking health information. Health Informatics Journal, 16(2), 145–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458210364786
Chu, J. T. W., Wang, M. P., Shen, C., Viswanath, K., Lam, T. H., Siu, S., & Chan, C. (2017). How , When and Why People Seek Health Information Online : Qualitative Study in Hong Kong Corresponding Author : INTERACTIVE JOURNAL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.7000
Cline, R. J. W., & Haynes, K. M. (2001). Consumer health information seeking on the internet: The state of the art. Health Education Research, 16(6), 671–692. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/16.6.671
Gilster, P. (1997). Digital Literacy. John Wiley & Sons.
Grajales, F. J., Sheps, S., Ho, K., Novak-Lauscher, H., & Eysenbach, G. (2014). Social media: A review and tutorial of applications in medicine and health care. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2912
Hawkins, C. M., DeLaO, A. J., & Hung, C. (2016). Social Media and the Patient Experience. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 13(12), 1615–1621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2016.09.006
Marar, S. D., Al-Madaney, M. M., & Almousawi, F. H. (2019). Health information on social media. Perceptions, attitudes, and practices of patients and their companions. Saudi Medical Journal, 40(12), 1294–1298. https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2019.12.24682
Marpaung, Y. N. M., & Irwansyah, I. (2021). Aplikasi Kesehatan Digital Sebagai Konstruksi Sosial Teknologi Media Baru. Jurnal Komunikasi Dan Kajian, 5, 243–258.
McMullan, R. D., Berle, D., Arnáez, S., & Starcevic, V. (2019). The relationships between health anxiety, online health information seeking, and cyberchondria: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, 270–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.037
Moretti, F. A., de Oliveira, V. E., & da Silva, E. M. K. (2012). Access to health information on the internet: A public health issue? Revista Da Associacao Medica Brasileira, 58(6), 650–658. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-42302012000600008
Muse, K., McManus, F., Leung, C., Meghreblian, B., & Williams, J. M. G. (2012). Cyberchondriasis: Fact or fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for health information on the Internet. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(1), 189–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.11.005
Ng, W. (2012). Can we teach digital natives digital literacy? Computers and Education, 59(3), 1065–1078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.04.016
Norr, A. M., Albanese, B. J., Oglesby, M. E., Allan, N. P., & Schmidt, N. B. (2015). Anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty as potential risk factors for cyberchondria. Journal of Affective Disorders, 174, 64–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.11.023
Ryan, A., & Wilson, S. (2008). Internet healthcare: Do self-diagnosis sites do more harm than good? Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, 7(3), 227–229. https://doi.org/10.1517/14740338.7.3.227
Sbaffi, L., & Rowley, J. (2017). Trust and credibility in web-based health information: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(6), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7579
Singh, K., & Brown, R. J. (2016). From headache to tumour: An examination of health anxiety, health-related Internet use and “query escalation.” Journal of Health Psychology, 21(9), 2008–2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105315569620
Song, H., Omori, K., Kim, J., Tenzek, K. E., Hawkins, J. M., Lin, W. Y., Kim, Y. C., & Jung, J. Y. (2016). Trusting social media as a source of health information: Online surveys comparing the United States, Korea, and Hong Kong. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 18(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4193
Starcevic, V., & Berle, D. (2013). Cyberchondria: Towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 13(2), 205–213. https://doi.org/10.1586/ern.12.162
Tyrer, P., & Tyrer, H. (2018). Health anxiety: detection and treatment. BJPsych Advances, 24(1), 66–72. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2017.5
White, R. W., & Horvitz, E. (2013). Captions and biases in diagnostic search. ACM Transactions on the Web, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1145/2486040
Published
2022-12-31
How to Cite
Ragil Tri Atmi, & Dewi Naulifajrin. (2022). The Psychological Impact of the Internet as a Source of Health Information. Literatify : Trends in Library Developments, 425-434. https://doi.org/10.24252/literatify.vi.44472
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Artikel
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