TY - GEN
T1 - The prevalence of internet and social media based medication information seeking behavior in Saudi Arabia
AU - Bahkali, Salwa
AU - Alfurih, Suha
AU - Aldremly, Maha
AU - Alzayyat, Ma'an
AU - Alsurimi, Khaled
AU - Househ, Mowafa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The internet has become an important resource to help people search for online medication information. This study aims to report the prevalence and profile of Saudi online medication seeking behavior. Conducted via a web-based survey with Twitter participants between January-February, 2015, the primary outcome measures were the self-reported rates of using the internet to search for medication related information. A valid sample of 4847 participants was collected over the period of the study. Out of the total participants, 68.3% (n=3311) were found to seek online medication related information frequently. Most of the social media users were female 83.5% (n=2766). The majority of respondents 63.6% (n= 3081) used Google, followed by Twitter 28.7% (n= 1392), Snapchat 21%, (n=1019), WhatsApp 13.8% (n= 670), Instagram 11.4%, (n= 553), and Facebook 5.5 % (n= 267), with few searching YouTube 1.3% (n=65) to access online medication information. Findings indicate that the Saudi population actively uses the internet and social media to obtain medication information. Further studies are needed to explore the influence of the internet and social media on user perception, attitude, and behavior with the use of online medication information.
AB - The internet has become an important resource to help people search for online medication information. This study aims to report the prevalence and profile of Saudi online medication seeking behavior. Conducted via a web-based survey with Twitter participants between January-February, 2015, the primary outcome measures were the self-reported rates of using the internet to search for medication related information. A valid sample of 4847 participants was collected over the period of the study. Out of the total participants, 68.3% (n=3311) were found to seek online medication related information frequently. Most of the social media users were female 83.5% (n=2766). The majority of respondents 63.6% (n= 3081) used Google, followed by Twitter 28.7% (n= 1392), Snapchat 21%, (n=1019), WhatsApp 13.8% (n= 670), Instagram 11.4%, (n= 553), and Facebook 5.5 % (n= 267), with few searching YouTube 1.3% (n=65) to access online medication information. Findings indicate that the Saudi population actively uses the internet and social media to obtain medication information. Further studies are needed to explore the influence of the internet and social media on user perception, attitude, and behavior with the use of online medication information.
KW - Drug information.
KW - Seeking medication information
KW - Social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978654840&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/978-1-61499-664-4-275
DO - 10.3233/978-1-61499-664-4-275
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 27350524
AN - SCOPUS:84978654840
T3 - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
SP - 275
EP - 278
BT - Unifying the Applications and Foundations of Biomedical and Health Informatics
A2 - Mantas, John
A2 - Househ, Mowafa S.
A2 - Hasman, Arie
A2 - Gallos, Parisis
A2 - Kolokathi, Aikaterini
PB - IOS Press
T2 - 14th International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare, ICIMTH 2016
Y2 - 1 July 2016 through 3 July 2016
ER -