↓ Skip to main content

Internet use of parents before attending a general pediatric outpatient clinic: does it change their information level and assessment of acute diseases?

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Pediatrics, August 2016
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (72nd percentile)

Mentioned by

twitter
5 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

dimensions_citation
20 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
62 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Internet use of parents before attending a general pediatric outpatient clinic: does it change their information level and assessment of acute diseases?
Published in
BMC Pediatrics, August 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12887-016-0677-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Christian Sebelefsky, Jasmin Voitl, Denise Karner, Frederic Klein, Peter Voitl, Andreas Böck

Abstract

Before 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. This 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. Of 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. Against 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.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 62 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Iran, Islamic Republic of 1 2%
Unknown 61 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 10 16%
Researcher 7 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 10%
Student > Bachelor 5 8%
Student > Postgraduate 5 8%
Other 14 23%
Unknown 15 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 19 31%
Nursing and Health Professions 9 15%
Arts and Humanities 3 5%
Computer Science 3 5%
Psychology 3 5%
Other 7 11%
Unknown 18 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 September 2016.
All research outputs
#13,507,794
of 24,132,691 outputs
Outputs from BMC Pediatrics
#1,588
of 3,221 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#174,811
of 348,917 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Pediatrics
#16
of 54 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,132,691 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,221 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.9. This one is in the 49th percentile – i.e., 49% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 348,917 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 49th percentile – i.e., 49% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 54 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.