health information seeking behaviour from internet and television and related factors

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Today, internet and television have become frequently preferred sources for health information. In this study, it was aimed to determine the causes, possible results and some related factors of health information seeking behavior from internet and television. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted between September 25 2018 - November 1 2018 at Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital, Sakarya Yazlık Family Care Health Center and Sakarya Bahçelievler Family Care Health Center. Participants were provided with a personal information form, a questionnaire to question their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to the health programs published on television, and CSS Short Form. The relationship between each other evaluated. To determine the level of statistical significance, 95% confidence interval and p≤0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: Of the 318 participants included in the study, 52.8% were women, 59.1% were married, 52.7% were parent and 39.3% were university graduates. The mean age was 34.70 ±12.51 SD. Female gender, being over 35 years of age and having children were associated with more watching of health-related programs broadcast on television. It has been determined that those who are under 35 years of age, who are university graduates, who think that their health is bad, who get any treatment because of the information they get from the internet and who find the health related information from the internet reliable get higher scores than the scale and the difference between the means is statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Sociodemographic characteristics such as age, educational status and general health perception were related to search and effects of health information from television and internet. As the confidence in the information obtained from the Internet increases, the tendency towards the development of cyberchondria can be deduced. There is a need for further comprehensive and longitudinal research. KEY WORDS: Cyberchondria, Internet, Health Information Seeking, Health Programs, Television.