What is Driving eHealth Behavior?

Top Factors Shaping e-Health

In the past, consumers primarily used the internet to research new symptoms or disease information. However, over the past seven years, consumers have started to evolve past just going online to look up health information sporadically. Now, a growing segment of patients is using digital resources for education and support at multiple points throughout the disease management continuum.

Specific findings about eHealth behaviors:

■When it comes to researching heath information online, the majority of consumers do so when symptoms occur and about two in five consumers go online after being diagnosed with an illness.
■102.3 million US patients now go online to research prescription drugs and to learn how to manage their conditions.
■About one in five consumers is now using online content and tools to compare prices of health or medical products.
■More than 80 million US adults use social media for health-related issues, creating or using content on health blogs, message boards, chat rooms, health social networks and health communities, and patient testimonials. Social media has become a convenient channel for patients and caregivers to compare treatment experiences, share advice, and lend support.

■Some types of patients, including those with mental health conditions, ADD/ADHD, and fibromyalgia, rely on user-generated content more than others.
■After consumers view direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements, they are more likely to seek out additional information from the internet than any other source, including doctors, family and friends, and 1-800 numbers. Post-DTC online information sources used by consumers include general health sites, search engines, product sites, pharmaceutical company sites, social networking sites, and blogs/messageboards/chat rooms.
■The population of consumers visiting pharmaceutical or biotechnology corporate or product websites doubled between 2006 and 2009. Consumers who use pharmaceutical product websites report this source highly influences their healthcare decisions.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/one-third-of-online-americans-use-social-media-for-health-11236/

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