Health information seeking by parents in the Internet age

Abstract

Aim: Studies have shown increasing Internet use for health information. We aimed to broadly examine parents' utilisation of information sources for their children's health, their trust in them and to define the role of the Internet for children's health information Methods: Interview of a convenience sample of parents of patients presenting to a tertiary paediatric emergency department (ED) (Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia) in 2006/2007. Results: A total of 360 parents completed the interview. Parents had used on average five sources of health information for their children in the previous 6 months. In the previous 6 months and immediately prior to the ED visit, general pract..