razz
4-8-18, 6:57am
Wasn't quite sure where to post this but it impacts families and communication about health or sick-care issues.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/second-opinion-online-medical180407-1.4608410
Quotes:
Eye twitching? Weird stomach pain? Leg cramp? Is it a symptom of a serious disease? Beware the temptation to ask Dr. Google.
A recent study suggests internet health searching could make you feel worse. It could leave you even less informed. And you're also potentially revealing private health information.
It's part of a growing body of research into the potential side-effects of consulting the internet about health issues — something that creates a risk of "cyberchondria."
University of Waterloo computer scientist Amira Ghenai decided to investigate this phenomenon for her PhD thesis in part because she was being bombarded with internet health advice from her mother.
"She gets messages from her friends, she looks online for information and then she forwards it to us," said Ghenai, who worried about the potential for harm if people chase unproven treatments. "I had a feeling this topic has a huge impact on people's lives."
To determine how people are influenced by internet health searches, Ghenai designed an experiment that presented artificial search results for a series of health questions. For example, one question asked whether cinnamon would treat diabetes. (It won't.)
The study found that people were confused by the search results, and they ended up having the wrong impression more often than if they'd just guessed based on what they already knew.
'They were convinced they had cancer'
Part of the problem is that Dr. Google's answers hinge on the words in the question.
"People use search engines but they're not aware of how they work," said Ghenai.
If the query is phrased "Does cinnamon help diabetes?" the search engine displays documents that contain the words "cinnamon," "help" and "diabetes."
Anything matching those words will show up high in the results, a mix of true and false information from various sources, but people will take away an impression based on whatever the consensus of the results seems to show. People may then make decisions "regardless of the truth," Ghenai said.
That ability to get an instant diagnosis has turned many people into cyberchondriacs.
University of Georgia communications researcher Carolyn Lauckner saw her friends doing it.
"Whether it was a headache or some strange abdominal pain, and they Googled it and they were immediately convinced they had cancer," she said.
In 2013, Lauckner designed an experiment to see if she could see this happening in real time, manipulating the results people saw in an internet health search and then monitoring their moods.
She discovered that people formed a quick impression just from scanning the search results, without even following the links
"They were more likely to feel frightened or overwhelmed based on how we manipulated the search results," said Lauckner.
"So the way that things appear on a search results page are really important — maybe even above and beyond what the actual web pages say."
As a new mother, Lauckner said she had to stop doing internet health searches.
"I was Googling every symptom she was experiencing — and of course it's always the worst thing possible could be happening to your baby, so I had to say enough is enough. It was causing too much anxiety."
'The web is not your doctor'
Not only can you end up freaking yourself out when you visit Dr. Google, you could also be unwittingly revealing personal information.
Oxford University researcher Tim Libert cautions that Dr. Google will not respect privacy.
"The web is not your doctor. People treat the web like a doctor, but the web is not taking the Hippocratic oath," said Libert, whose paper "What web browsing reveals about your health" was published in the BMJ in 2015.
"You should treat it like talking to a guy in a park with a megaphone."
He said every time you visit a web page seeking information about a health condition there is a chance that data is being collected by third parties.
"The number of companies tracking you online is really huge," he said. "Some of those companies make lists of people and sell that."
Health information can be sensitive, yet there is little regulation over how this information is collected, how long it's kept and how it's used, he wrote in the BMJ.
Canada's privacy watchdog ruled in 2014 that Google's use of sensitive health information violated Canada's privacy laws after it allowed advertisements to be directed at a consumer who had searched for devices to treat sleep apnea.
"Our office is of the view that that personal health information (i.e. online activities and viewing history of health-related websites) is sensitive," said Anne-Marie Cenaiko, spokesperson for the office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. "Advertisers should avoid collecting sensitive personal information, such as individuals' health information, for the purpose of delivering tailored ads."...
If the query is phrased "Does cinnamon help diabetes?" the search engine displays documents that contain the words "cinnamon," "help" and "diabetes."
Anything matching those words will show up high in the results, a mix of true and false information from various sources, but people will take away an impression based on whatever the consensus of the results seems to show. People may then make decisions "regardless of the truth," Ghenai said."
It's part of a growing body of research into the potential side-effects of consulting the internet about health issues — something that creates a risk of "cyberchondria."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/second-opinion-online-medical180407-1.4608410
Quotes:
Eye twitching? Weird stomach pain? Leg cramp? Is it a symptom of a serious disease? Beware the temptation to ask Dr. Google.
A recent study suggests internet health searching could make you feel worse. It could leave you even less informed. And you're also potentially revealing private health information.
It's part of a growing body of research into the potential side-effects of consulting the internet about health issues — something that creates a risk of "cyberchondria."
University of Waterloo computer scientist Amira Ghenai decided to investigate this phenomenon for her PhD thesis in part because she was being bombarded with internet health advice from her mother.
"She gets messages from her friends, she looks online for information and then she forwards it to us," said Ghenai, who worried about the potential for harm if people chase unproven treatments. "I had a feeling this topic has a huge impact on people's lives."
To determine how people are influenced by internet health searches, Ghenai designed an experiment that presented artificial search results for a series of health questions. For example, one question asked whether cinnamon would treat diabetes. (It won't.)
The study found that people were confused by the search results, and they ended up having the wrong impression more often than if they'd just guessed based on what they already knew.
'They were convinced they had cancer'
Part of the problem is that Dr. Google's answers hinge on the words in the question.
"People use search engines but they're not aware of how they work," said Ghenai.
If the query is phrased "Does cinnamon help diabetes?" the search engine displays documents that contain the words "cinnamon," "help" and "diabetes."
Anything matching those words will show up high in the results, a mix of true and false information from various sources, but people will take away an impression based on whatever the consensus of the results seems to show. People may then make decisions "regardless of the truth," Ghenai said.
That ability to get an instant diagnosis has turned many people into cyberchondriacs.
University of Georgia communications researcher Carolyn Lauckner saw her friends doing it.
"Whether it was a headache or some strange abdominal pain, and they Googled it and they were immediately convinced they had cancer," she said.
In 2013, Lauckner designed an experiment to see if she could see this happening in real time, manipulating the results people saw in an internet health search and then monitoring their moods.
She discovered that people formed a quick impression just from scanning the search results, without even following the links
"They were more likely to feel frightened or overwhelmed based on how we manipulated the search results," said Lauckner.
"So the way that things appear on a search results page are really important — maybe even above and beyond what the actual web pages say."
As a new mother, Lauckner said she had to stop doing internet health searches.
"I was Googling every symptom she was experiencing — and of course it's always the worst thing possible could be happening to your baby, so I had to say enough is enough. It was causing too much anxiety."
'The web is not your doctor'
Not only can you end up freaking yourself out when you visit Dr. Google, you could also be unwittingly revealing personal information.
Oxford University researcher Tim Libert cautions that Dr. Google will not respect privacy.
"The web is not your doctor. People treat the web like a doctor, but the web is not taking the Hippocratic oath," said Libert, whose paper "What web browsing reveals about your health" was published in the BMJ in 2015.
"You should treat it like talking to a guy in a park with a megaphone."
He said every time you visit a web page seeking information about a health condition there is a chance that data is being collected by third parties.
"The number of companies tracking you online is really huge," he said. "Some of those companies make lists of people and sell that."
Health information can be sensitive, yet there is little regulation over how this information is collected, how long it's kept and how it's used, he wrote in the BMJ.
Canada's privacy watchdog ruled in 2014 that Google's use of sensitive health information violated Canada's privacy laws after it allowed advertisements to be directed at a consumer who had searched for devices to treat sleep apnea.
"Our office is of the view that that personal health information (i.e. online activities and viewing history of health-related websites) is sensitive," said Anne-Marie Cenaiko, spokesperson for the office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. "Advertisers should avoid collecting sensitive personal information, such as individuals' health information, for the purpose of delivering tailored ads."...
If the query is phrased "Does cinnamon help diabetes?" the search engine displays documents that contain the words "cinnamon," "help" and "diabetes."
Anything matching those words will show up high in the results, a mix of true and false information from various sources, but people will take away an impression based on whatever the consensus of the results seems to show. People may then make decisions "regardless of the truth," Ghenai said."
It's part of a growing body of research into the potential side-effects of consulting the internet about health issues — something that creates a risk of "cyberchondria."