Gauging the Patient-Centered Potential of Online Health Seeking

Online Health Seeking (OHS) is the process by which people find, share and consume online health and wellness information. OHS is widespread, widely studied and often presented as a concerning new trend. We suggest OHS is a natural fit with patient-centered care, representing an opportunity to improve patient provider relationships and patient satisfaction. Over two years we conducted a series of investigations of OHS at a local clinic where OHS plays an important role in care. Through focus groups, shadowing and interviewing we explore how this clinic’s health professional advisors and their clients interact around OHS. We also use a set of repeated surveys to investigate the link between components of OHS and concepts like Patient-Centered Care (PCC) and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC). In this paper we present the results of our studies, which describe a clinic that emphasizes OHS and show encouraging links between OHS, PCC and the MHLC. Working to unpack these results, we discuss how OHS could be better operationalized as a tool for improving care and conclude with suggestions for patient-centered OHS interventions.