Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2022
The Effects of Website Traits and Medical Skepticism on Patients' Willingness to Follow Web-Based Medical Advice: Web-Based Experiment.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- What Patients See: Evaluating the Quality, Readability, and Ethnic Inclusivity of Online Resources for Breast Reconstruction.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Psychological, informational, logistical, and social determinants of regular blood donation in Malaysia.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Deciphering patient selection of physicians in online health communities: insights from a dual-path perspective.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- A field experiment to improve initial patient engagement for hypertension prevention in South Korea.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Development of a questionnaire investigating the physical and psychological well-being and need for rehabilitative strategies in patients with pulmonary embolism.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2025Article
- Exploring trust dynamics in health information systems: the impact of patients' health conditions on information source preferences.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs people increasingly turn to web-based sources for medical information, we offer some insight into what website traits influence patients' credibility assessment. Specifically, we control for brand and content length, while manipulating three website traits: authorship, format, and tone. Furthermore, we focus on medical skepticism to understand how patients with high levels of medical skepticism may react to web-based medical information differently. Medical skepticism is related to a patient's doubts about the value of conventional medical care; therefore, skeptics may have different practices and criteria when conducting their own web-based medical searches.
objectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate how website traits affect the likelihood that patients follow web-based medical advice and how this varies among patients with differing levels of medical skepticism.
methodsThis web-based experiment presented participants with a hypothetical medical situation about leg cramps and offered a website with treatment advice. We varied the websites the participants observed across three traits: authorship (patient or physician), format (article or discussion forum), and tone (objective or experience-based). The 2305 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 8 possible conditions and then asked the extent to which they would follow the advice. Health care patterns and coverage, demographics, and the participants' level of medical skepticism were captured.
resultsOur participants were selected to be demographically representative of the population of internet users in the United States. The 2305 complete responses were analyzed with ordinary least squares regression. Our analysis reveals that people are more likely to accept web-based medical advice authored by a physician (P<.001) and presented with an objective tone (P=.006), but these preferences erode as the levels of medical skepticism increase. Medical skepticism was measured by means of a previously established index on a 0 to 4 scale, and the average score was 2.26 (SD 0.84). Individuals with higher levels of medical skepticism were more likely to follow web-based medical advice in our experiment (P<.001). Individuals with low levels of medical skepticism found the discussion forum format more credible, whereas those with high levels of medical skepticism preferred the article format (P=.03). We discuss the interactions between medical skepticism and all 3 website traits manipulated in the experiment.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that, generally, physician authorship and an objective tone create more persuasive web-based medical advice. However, there are differences in how patients with high levels of medical skepticism react to web-based medical resources. Medical skeptics are less discerning regarding the author's credentials and the presentation tone of the information. Furthermore, patients with higher levels of medical skepticism prefer article format presentations, whereas those with lower levels of medical skepticism prefer discussion forum-style formatting.
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