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A pilot study comparing parent and adolescent online health information seeking behaviours in elective pediatric surgical situations

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Abstract

Purpose

Little is known of how children seek health information. This study evaluates online health information (OHI) seeking behaviours in adolescents undergoing major elective surgical procedures and compares responses within parent–child dyads.

Methods

With institutional approval, we prospectively surveyed parents of children admitted to our institution for major elective operations between November 2017 and November 2018, using convenience sampling. Patients aged 12 years and above were also invited. Each respondent completed an anonymized modification of a previously published survey on Internet usage. Chi squared tests were used for categorical data, with significance at P value < 0.05.

Results

Ninety-one parents and 19 patients (median age 15 years, range 12–18) responded, with 13 parent–child pairs. Daily Internet access was reported by 84 (93%) parents and 18 (95%) children, but OHI was sought in 77% of parents and 74% of children. Six (32%) children could not name their admitting condition, compared to 10 (11%) parents. Nine (50%) children consulted family and friends for information compared to 27 (30%) parents. Parents were more likely to access hospital websites (n = 15, 44%) compared to no children (p = 0.01), while most children (n = 7, 70%) accessed non-health websites (e.g. Wikipedia). In the 13 parent–child pairs, only one parent accurately assessed what their child understood of their condition. Most patients (63.6%) did not understand the aspects of their condition that their parents deemed important.

Conclusions

This study highlights the differences in parental and child behaviours. Children are equally important to include when counselling. Surgeons can guide both parties to reliable Internet sources for health information.

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Funding

The authors declare that there are no source of funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Sophia S. M. Wong

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    Kenneth P. L. Wong

  3. Department of Paediatric Surgery, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, 100 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore, 229899, Singapore

    Mark I. L. Angus, Yong Chen, Candy S. C. Choo & Shireen Anne Nah

  4. Division of Surgery, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Yong Chen & Shireen Anne Nah

  5. Division of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia

    Shireen Anne Nah

Authors
  1. Sophia S. M. Wong
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  2. Kenneth P. L. Wong
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  3. Mark I. L. Angus
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  4. Yong Chen
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  5. Candy S. C. Choo
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  6. Shireen Anne Nah
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Contributions

Study conception and design: SN, KW and CY. Data collection: SW, MA and CC. Data analysis: SW, CC, SN and CY. First draft: SW and SN. Critical revision: MA, CC, KW and CY.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shireen Anne Nah.

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The authors declare that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication.

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Wong, S.S.M., Wong, K.P.L., Angus, M.I.L. et al. A pilot study comparing parent and adolescent online health information seeking behaviours in elective pediatric surgical situations. Pediatr Surg Int 36, 227–233 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-019-04592-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-019-04592-0

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