Assessing Saudis knowledge and attitudes towards seeking health information online

3^rd International Conference on Health Informatics and Technology

June 29-30, 2016 New Orleans, USA

Ohoud Alhammad

King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Health Med Inform

Abstract :

eHealth, or the use of information and communication technologies for health purposes, has proven its efficiency and effectiveness in improving the quality of health services. This concept is newly emerging in Saudi Arabia where a lot of organizations are exerting efforts to develop it. Unfortunately, most of these efforts are concentrated on inter-professional communication and education. This raised a need for such invention to be used as a tool for health promotion. This study assessed the knowledge and attitudes of Saudi population towards e-Health and online health information. A web-based survey was designed and participants were invited to fill the survey thorough social media means. 358 participants responded to the survey. The majority of them (87%) admitted that they use the Internet to search for health related information. Of those, approximately 84% revealed that their main purpose for seeking health information online was to learn more about certain health conditions. The most important finding was that around 76% of the respondents were not satisfied with the current situation, and they believed they needed to learn more about reliable eHealth resources on the web. The findings showed positive attitudes towards searching for and acquiring health-related information online. They also showed that there is a huge need to provide Saudis with educational programs that raise their awareness about reliable and trust-worthy online health resources. Since e-health concept is new in Saudi Arabia, further research is needed to evaluate the professionals� and the public�s perceptions toward these kinds of online tools.

Biography :

Email: Ohalhammad@ksu.edu.sa