Table 2.
Distribution of the online health information (OHI)-seeking behavior of study participants (N=490).
| OHIa-seeking behavior of the participants | n (%) | |
| Main source of health-related informationb | ||
| Internet | 271 (55.4) | |
| Physicians | 151 (30.7) | |
| Family members or friends or colleagues | 49 (10.0) | |
| Radio or TV | 19 (3.9) | |
| Others | 79 (16.1) | |
| Average time spent on health information Web pages (hour/week) | ||
| <2 | 226 (46.1) | |
| 2-5 | 150 (30.7) | |
| >5 | 114 (23.2) | |
| Main reason behind preferring OHI | ||
| Easy access | 231(47.2) | |
| Improving understanding of a specific health problem | 151 (30.8) | |
| Anonymity | 57 (11.6) | |
| Recommended by family, friend, or physician | 51(10.4) | |
| Web pages visited for health-related information | ||
| Scientific societies | 111 (22.6) | |
| Websites recommended by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. | 163 (33.3) | |
| Websites related to Ministry of Health or universities | 81 (16.5) | |
| No special preference | 135 (27.6) | |
| Participant rating of the OHI quality | ||
| Excellent | 172 (35.2) | |
| Good | 235 (47.9) | |
| Fair | 83 (16.9) | |
| Poor | 0 | |
| Looking for OHI | ||
| For themselves | 262 (53.5) | |
| For someone else | 150 (30.6) | |
| Both | 78 (15.9) | |
| Search topics | ||
| New health issue | 126 (25.7) | |
| Longstanding health issue | 152 (31.0) | |
| Both | 212 (43.3) | |
| Preferred search location for OHI | ||
| Home | 309 (63.1) | |
| Work | 94 (19. 3) | |
| Othersc | 87 (17.6) | |
aOHI: online health information.
bMultiple responses allowed.
cOthers include public places and Internet cafe.