Observational studyBMC pediatrics2016
Internet use of parents before attending a general pediatric outpatient clinic: does it change their information level and assessment of acute diseases?
Observational study in BMC pediatrics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Video Tutorials to Empower Caregivers of Ill Children and Reduce Health Care Utilization: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Article
- The Translation and Validation of the Children's Health Internet Research Parental Inventory (CHIRPI) in Greek: A Crucial Tool for Evaluating Parent Internet Use for Children's Health Information.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Online search and activities of parents of children with ADHD: a qualitative study.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Preparation of children for elective surgery and hospitalisation: A parental perspective.Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community · 2022Article
- Profile of the Users and the Most Visited Topics of a Pediatric eHealth Website.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Influence of education and residence on the parental search for pediatric surgical information on the internet.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2021Review
- A Study of eHealth from the Perspective of Social Sciences.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Online health information seeking behaviours of parents of children undergoing surgery in a pediatric hospital in Rome, Italy: a survey.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2020Article
- Mobile and Online Health Information: Exploring Digital Media Use among Austrian Parents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Parental internet search in the field of pediatric orthopedics.European journal of pediatrics · 2019Article
- Pediatric Web-Based Chat Services for Caregivers of Children: Descriptive Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2018Article
- Internet Usage by Parents Prior to Seeking Care at a Pediatric Emergency Department: Observational Study.Interactive journal of medical research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBefore seeing a pediatrician, parents often look online to obtain child health information. We aimed to determine the influence of IUC (internet use regarding the reason for consultation) on their subjective information level, their assessment of acute diseases and the change in this assessment. Secondary objectives were to identify the most commonly used online resources and factors with an influence on IUC.
methodsThis cross-sectional observational study was conducted at a general pediatric outpatient clinic located in Vienna, Austria. An anonymous, voluntary and 14-items-containing questionnaire served to gather all data. A total number of 500 questionnaires were collected.
resultsOf the parents attending the outpatient clinic, 21 % use the internet before the appointment (= IUC). Most common online resources utilized for this purpose are websites run by doctors (61.3 %), the outpatient clinic's homepage (56.3 %), Google (40 %), Wikipedia (32.5 %), health advisory services provided by doctors (28.7 %), health portals (21.3 %) and health forums and communities (18.8 %). The information level in terms of the reason for consultation is rated as good by 50.6 %, as average by 46.7 % and as insufficient by 2.7 % (internet users: 42.7 %, 55.3 %, 1.9 %). Acute diseases of the children are estimated to be mild by 58.4 %, to be moderate by 41.1 % and to be severe by 0.5 % (internet users: 54.9 %, 45.1 %, 0 %). After having used any source of information, this assessment is unchanged in 82.8 %, acute diseases are rated as more severe in 13.8 % and as less severe in 3.4 % (internet users: 79.2 %, 16.7 %, 4.2 %). Internet users and non-users do not differ with respect to their information level (p = 0.178), the assessment of acute diseases (p = 0.691) and the change in this assessment (p = 0.999). A higher education level of parents (mothers: p = 0.025, fathers: p = 0.037), a young age of their children (p = 0.012) and acute diseases of their children (p = 0.046) predispose to IUC.
conclusionsAgainst the common perception that online health information might fuel panic-mongering, we could not determine a link between IUC and the assessment of acute diseases. The information level of internet users and non-users does not differ either. Further research is needed to clarify causes for high and low IUC.
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