How on-line health checkers scare patients

Thursday March 15th, 2012

On-line health checkers can scare people by grouping specific symptoms together, according to a new study.

The new research shows that people who use the sites react differently according to how they are asked about symptoms.

The study, at Warwick University, UK, looked at the psychological effects of the way symptoms are placed together.

Researchers found people are less likely to jump to conclusions if general symptoms - such as feeling tired - are mixed with specific ones.

But website users became alarmed if three general symptoms were listed one after the other, according to the study, reported in Organizational Science.

The researchers also found that people were less likely to panic if they had a long list of symptoms to check off. A study involving brain cancer symptoms tested the effect of asking about six and asking about 12.

Researcher Dr Chris Olivola said: “As more and more people can and do access medical info online, these results have serious implications for patients and healthcare providers.

"This is particularly true of the NHS, which could be further overstressed if common symptoms are listed together, leading people to increase their perceived risk of having a disease and therefore increasing visits to their medical doctors.

"Healthcare organisations need to pay attention to the way they present the symptoms associated with diseases and other health risks.”

Organizational Science April 2012

Tags: General Health | UK News

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