Table 1.
Characteristics of the included articles.
| Articles | Health topics | Source studied | Sampling method | Participants | Data collection methods | ||
| N | Age range (years) | Disease experience | |||||
| Eysenbach and Köhler [30] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 21 | 19-71 (mean=37) | Healthy volunteers who had searched online for health information | Focus groups, naturalistic observation of consumers searching predefined search tasks, and follow-up interviews |
| Frisby et al [39] | Smoking cessation | The internet, in general | Convenience | 13 | 19-64 | Smokers from a smoking cessation campaign | Interviews, observations of participants searching both predefined and self-selected search tasks, and think aloud |
| Peterson et al [40] | Medicines/drugs | The internet, in general | Purposive | 46 | 18-67 (mean=41.7) | People who had searched online for health information | Focus groups |
| Williams et al [41] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 42 | 30-49 | People who had searched online for health information | Open-question survey |
| Bernhardt and Felter [42] | Pre- and postnatal health | The internet, in general | Purposive | 20 | 22-42 (mean=34.5) |
Mothers of young children | Focus groups |
| Childs [43] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Not reported | 35 | Not reported | Parents and caregivers of children with rare diseases | Focus groups |
| Adam et al [44] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 18 | 20-60 | People who had searched online for health information | Observation of participants searching both self-generated and predefined tasks, and semistructured qualitative interviews |
| Crystal and Greenberg [45] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 12 | Not reported | People who have a strong interest in their health | Observation of participants searching self-generated search tasks, think aloud, and guided interviews |
| Kerr et al [46] | Chronic conditions (eg, Alzheimer disease) | Interactive health communication application | Purposive | 40 | 30-79 | Chronic disease patients and caregivers | Focus groups |
| Marshall and Williams [18] | Not specified | Preselected websites | Purposive | 32 | Not reported | Patients with various conditions and care givers | Information review groups |
| Hoffman-Goet and Friedman [47] | Breast cancer information | Preselected websites | Convenience | 25 | 50-71 (mean=59.2) | Canadian aboriginal senior women | Interview |
| Sillence and Briggs [48] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Not reported | 42 | 22-68 | Internet users interested in their health | Focus groups |
| Sillence et al [32] | Menopause | The internet, in general, and preselected websites | Not reported | 15 | 41-60 (mean=49) | Women faced with decisions concerning menopause and hormone replacement therapy | Observation of participants searching predefined and self-generated search tasks with think aloud and guided focus groups, and free search with diary keeping |
| Sillence et al [49] | Hypertension | The internet, in general, and preselected websites | Not reported | 13 | 33-68 | Hypertension patients | Observation of participants searching self-selected and predefined search tasks, with think aloud and guided focus groups, and free search with diary keeping |
| Buhi et al [50] | Sexual health | The internet, in general | Purposive | 24 | Not reported | First-year undergraduate students | Observation of participants searching predefined search tasks and think aloud |
| Freeman and Spyridakis [51] | Diabetes | The CDCa website | Convenience | 188 | Mean=21 | University students | Controlled experiment with open-ended questions in a questionnaire |
| Mackert et al [52] | Childhood obesity and nutrition | The internet, in general | Purposive | 43 | ≥18 | Parents with low health literacy | Focus groups |
| Marton [53] | Mental health | The internet, in general | Convenience | 5 | Not reported | Chronic mental health patients | Interviews |
| Kim et al [54] | Preconception nutrition | The internet, in general | Purposive | 11 | 20-22 | University students | Observation of participants searching predefined search tasks with guided interviews |
| Feufel and Stahl [13] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 22 | >50 or <30 (mean for older cohort=65, mean for younger cohort=23) | Older vs younger cohorts (with different health literacy skills) | Observation of participants searching predefined search tasks and concurrent talk-aloud |
| Henderson and Eccleston [38] | Pain problem | The internet, in general | Purposive | 13 | 12-17 (mean=14.38) | Adolescent users of online content for pain | Online focus groups |
| Colombo et al [55] | Multiple sclerosis | The internet, in general | Purposive | 60 | 18-60 | Multiple sclerosis patients and their family members | Offline/online focus groups |
| Lederman et al [56] | Not specified | Online forums | Purposive | 16 | ≥18 | Consumers who had searched online for health information | Interviews |
| McPherson et al [57] | Chronic conditions | Preselected websites | Purposive | 6 | 11-23 (mean=16.7) | Children and young people with chronic conditions | Focus groups |
| Payton, et al [58] | HIV prevention | The NIHb website | Not reported | 40 | 18-24 | Black female college students | Focus groups |
| Briones [59] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 50 | 18-25 | University students | Interviews |
| Rennis et al [60] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Convenience | 14 | Mean=25.71 | Urban community college students | Focus groups |
| Santer et al [20] | Childhood eczema | The internet, in general | Purposive | 28 | 26-46 (median=36) | Parents of children with eczema | Interviews |
| Subramaniam et al [61] | Obesity and other general health issues | The internet, in general, and preselected obesity websites | Purposive | 30 | 10-15 (mean=12.8) | Adolescents from low socioeconomic status and minority family | Participants searching self-selected health topics followed by search log analysis, and interviews of preselected websites |
| Cunningham and Johnson [62] | Not specified | Patients.co.uk | Not reported | 11 | Not reported | General public | Observation of participants searching predefined search tasks and concurrent talk-aloud |
| Diviani et al [63] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 44 | Mean=37 | Italian-speaking adults with different health literacy levels | Interviews |
| Sillence et al [64] | “Raw” milk | Pre-selected raw milk websites | Purposive | 41 | 24-85 (mean=48) | Milk consumers | Observation of participants searching predefined search tasks, log analysis, and guided group discussion |
| Alsem et al [65] | Physical disabilities | The internet, in general | Purposive | 15 | 26-58 | Parents of children with physical disabilities | Interviews |
| Champlin et al [66] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 40 | Mean=39 | People with different health literacy levels | Interviews |
| Cusack et al [67] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 27 | 12-15 | Students in grades 7-9 | Interviews |
| Peddie and Kelly-Campbell [68] | Hearing health | The internet, in general | Purposive | 11 | 44-84 (median=70) | Hearing-impaired patients | Observation of participants searching predefined search tasks, think aloud, and guided interviews |
| Scantlebury et al [69] | Not specified | The internet, in general | Purposive | 14 | 21-70 | People who had searched online for health information | Focus groups |
aCDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
bNIH: National Institutes of Health.