Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Survey of Internet Use as a Source of Health-Related Information in Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia

IA Alwehaibi¹, AA Almeman²

¹Buraidah Central Hospital; ²Pharmacy School, Almulaida, Qassim University, Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

For correspondence:- Almeman Email: ahmadalmeman@gmail.com Tel:+00966548889712

Received: 16 October 2013 Accepted: 14 June 2014 Published: 18 August 2014

Citation: Alwehaibi I, Almeman A. Survey of Internet Use as a Source of Health-Related Information in Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia. Trop J Pharm Res 2014; 13(8):1371-1374 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v13i8.25

© 2014 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To estimate the proportion of patients in Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia, who use the Internet to search for health-related information, determine barriers to Internet use, and investigate the relationship between Internet use and socio-demographic variables.

Methods: A total of 377 questionnaires were distributed to five main hospitals in Qassim Province (Saudi Arabia). The patients were randomly selected to complete the survey when they arrived to fill their pharmacy prescription. The survey was explained to the patients, and they were given the option to participate or decline.

Results: Fifteen percent of the respondents used the Internet as a source of health-related information, especially disease-specific information (97.7 %). Thirty percent used the Internet after a recommendation from their health-care provider. The highest proportions of respondents indicated that lack of training and the cost of Internet access were major barriers to Internet use. There was a significant association between Internet use and education level (p = 0.002).

Conclusion: Compared with published data for Qassim City, Saudi Arabia, Internet use to obtain health-related information is relatively low in the Qassim Province, Saudi Arabia. Lack of training is the most common barrier.

Keywords: Health information, Barriers, Internet use, Patient and internet, Saudi Arabia