Cyberchondria levels and relationship with health literacy in patients who visited to the family medicine outpatient clinic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20254007Keywords:
Cyberchondria, Family medicine, Health anxiety, Health literacyAbstract
Background: With the widespread use of the internet, individuals increasingly seek health-related information online. While this can enhance health knowledge and decision-making, it may also lead to excessive and anxiety-driven searches, known as cyberchondria. It is still a new and unknown concept that reduces functionality and quality of life, harms the patient-physician relationship, and has become a great burden on the economy. Improving health literacy may play a key role in mitigating its effects.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 341 participants who visited a family medicine outpatient clinic between March 28 and June 30, 2022. Data were collected using a sociodemographic form, the cyberchondria severity scale, and the Turkey health literacy scale.
Results: Of the participants, 41.3% were male and 58.7% female, with a mean age of 39.3±13.2 years. The mean cyberchondria score was 69.8±15.7, and the mean health literacy (TSOY-32) score was 31.4±8.1, indicating a problematic-limited level. Cyberchondria was negatively correlated with health literacy, number of chronic diseases, and presence of hypertension, and positively correlated with the number of online health information sources used. Higher scores were observed among those using the internet, friends/neighbors, Google, social media, and forums for health information.
Conclusions: Our findings highlighted that cyberchondria was negatively associated with health literacy and chronic disease. Targeted strategies to enhance health literacy, along with promoting the responsible use of online health information, may contribute to the prevention and management of cyberchondria.
Metrics
References
International Telecommunication Union Statistics. Statistics. Available at: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx. Accessed on 26 January 2022.
TÜİK. Household Information Technology (IT) Usage Survey, 2021. Available at: https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Hanehalki-Bilisim-Teknolojileri-(BT) Kullanim-Arastirmasi-2021-37437. Accessed 18 July 2022.
Eurostat. EU citizens: over half seek health information online. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/edn-20220406-1. Accessed on 09 April 2023.
Hughes RB, Beers L, Robinson-Whelen S. Health information seeking by women with physical disabilities: a qualitative analysis. Disabil Health J. 2022;15(2):101268. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2022.101268
Robles-Mariños R, Angeles AI, Alvarado GF. Factors associated with health anxiety in medical students at a private university in Lima, Peru. Rev Colomb Psiquiatr. 2022;51(2):89-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcpeng.2020.11.007
White R, Horvitz E. Cyberchondria: studies of the escalation of medical concerns in Web search. ACM Transact Inform Syst. 2009;27(4):1-37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1629096.1629101
Fergus TA. Anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty as potential risk factors for cyberchondria: a replication and extension examining dimensions of each construct. J Affect Disord. 2015;184:305-9.
Fergus TA, Spada MM. Moving toward a metacognitive conceptualization of cyberchondria: Examining the contribution of metacognitive beliefs, beliefs about rituals, and stop signals. J Anxiety Disord. 2018;60:11-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.09.003
Bajcar B, Babiak J. Neuroticism and cyberchondria: The mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty and defensive pessimism. Personal Indi Diff. 2020;162:110006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110006
Mathes BM, Norr AM, Allan NP, Albanese BJ, Schmidt NB. Cyberchondria: overlap with health anxiety and unique relations with impairment, quality of life, and service utilization. Psychiatr Res. 2018;261:204-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.01.002
Bermingham SL, Cohen A, Hague J, Parsonage M. The cost of somatisation among the working age population in England for the year 2008-2009. Ment Health Fam Med. 2010;7(2):71-84.
Khan AW, Pandey J. Dark side consequences of cyberchondria: an empirical investigation. Aslib J Inform Manage. 2022;74(5):801-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-08-2021-0222
Wangler J, Jansky M. Internet-associated health anxieties in primary care - results of a survey among general practitioners and primary care internists in hesse. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2019;144(16):e102-8.
US Department of Health and Human Services. History of Health Literacy Definitions. Available at: https://odphp.health.gov/healthypeople/priorityareas/socialdeterminantshealth/literaturesummaries/health-liter. Accessed on 18 July 2022.
McElroy E, Shevlin M. The development and initial validation of the cyberchondria severity scale (CSS). J Anxiety Disord. 2014;28(2):259-65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.12.007
Uzun SU, Zencir M. Reliability and validity study of Turkish version of cyberchondria severity scale: Curr Psychol. 2018;40(1):65-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0001-x
T. C. Ministry of Health General Directorate of Health Promotion, Türkiye Health Literacy Scales reliability and validity study Ministry of Health. Publication No: 1025, Ankara 2016 .
Gökçe E, Erbay P. Cyberchondria level and related variables in adults in selected family health units at Manisa Şehzadeler Education Research Community Health Center (EATSM), 19th National Public Health Congress; 15-19 March 2017, Antalya, Türkiye; 2017:536.
Arsenakis S, Chatton A, Penzenstadler L, Billieux J, Berle D, Starcevic V, et al. Unveiling the relationships between cyberchondria and psychopathological symptoms. J Psychiatr Res. 2021;143:254-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.09.014
Oniszczenko W. Anxious temperament and cyberchondria as mediated by fear of COVID-19 infection: A cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 2021;16(8):e0255750. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255750
Fergus TA. Anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty as potential risk factors for cyberchondria: a replication and extension examining dimensions of each construct. J Affect Disord. 2015;184:305-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.06.017
Tarhan, N, Tutgun-Ünal, A, Ekinci Y. New generation disease cyberchondria: the relationship between cyberchondria levels of generations and health literacy in the new media age. OPUS Int J Soc Res. 2021;17(37):4253-97.
Zheng H, Jiang S. Linking the pathway from exposure to online vaccine information to cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2022;25(10):625-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.0045
Uysal Toraman A, Kalkim A, Korkmaz EK. Coronavirus anxiety and cyberchondria among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey: coronavirus anxiety and cyberchondria. Curr Psychol. 2022:1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03382-7
Ciułkowicz M, Misiak B, Szcześniak D, Grzebieluch J, Maciaszek J, Rymaszewska J. The portrait of cyberchondria-a cross-sectional online study on factors related to health anxiety and cyberchondria in polish population during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(7):4347. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074347
Altındiş S, İnci MB, Aslan FG, Altındiş M. Investigation of Cyberchondria Levels and Related Factors in University Employees. Sakarya Medical Journal. 2018;8(2): 359-70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31832/smj.423652
Parra LA, Spahr CM, Goldbach JT, Bray BC, Kipke MD, Slavich GM. Greater lifetime stressor exposure is associated with poorer mental health among sexual minority people of color. J Clin Psychol. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23463
van Wegen J, van Egmond EEA, Benedict RHB, Beenakker EAC, van Eijk JJJ, Frequin STFM, et al. Subjective cognitive impairment is related to work status in people with multiple sclerosis. IBRO Neurosci Rep. 2022;13:513-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibneur.2022.10.016
Deniz S. Examination of individuals’ e-health literacy and cyberchondria levels. Hum Hum Mag. 2020;7(24):84-96
Turhan Cakir A. Cyberchondria levels in women with human papilloma virus. J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2022;48(10):2610-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jog.15354
Güleşen A, Beydağ K. Cyberchondria level in women with heart disease and affecting factors. Arc Health Sci Res 2020;7(1):1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5152/ArcHealthSciRes.2020.509131
Sezer Ö, Başoğlu MA, Dağdeviren HN. An examination of cyberchondria's relationship with trait anxiety and psychological wellbeing in women of reproductive age: a cross-sectional study. Medicine. 2022;101(46):e31503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000031503
Karakaş N, Tekin Ç, Bentli R, Demir E. Cyberchondria, COVID-19 phobia, and well-being: a relational study on teachers. Med Lav. 2022;113(3):e2022027. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23749/mdl.v113i3.12661
Menon V, Kar SK, Tripathi A, Nebhinani N, Varadharajan N. Cyberchondria: conceptual relation with health anxiety, assessment, management and prevention. Asian J Psychiatr. 2020;53:102225. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102225
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
