Information from the Internet and the doctor-patient relationship: the patient perspective – a qualitative study
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Both doctors and patients may perceive the Internet as a potential challenge to existing therapeutic relationships. Here we examine patients' views of the effect of the Internet on their relationship with doctors. METHODS: We ran 8 disease specific focus groups of between 2 and 8 respondents comprising adult patients with diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease or hepatitis C. RESULTS: Data are presented on (i) the perceived benefits and (ii) limitations of the Internet in the context of the doctor-patient relationship, (iii) views on sharing information with doctors, and (iv) the potential of the Internet for the future. Information from the Internet was particularly valued in relation to experiential knowledge. CONCLUSION: Despite evidence of increasing patient activism in seeking information and the potential to challenge the position of the doctor, the accounts here do not in any way suggest a desire to disrupt the existing balance of power, or roles, in the consultation. Patients appear to see the Internet as an additional resource to support existing and valued relationships with their doctors. Doctors therefore need not feel challenged or threatened when patients bring health information from the Internet to a consultation, rather they should see it as an attempt on the part of the patient to work with the doctor and respond positively.
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Some health knowledge acquired online was beyond the expertise of GPs, causing patients to feel the need to perform research themselves to improve their self-care.
“It was also reported that some health knowledge acquired online, was beyond the expertise of General Practitioners (GPs), causing patients to feel the need to perform research themselves to improve their self-care [31].”
The internet allows 24-h access, whereas obtaining an appointment with a HCP can be difficult.
“The internet allows 24-h access, whereas obtaining an appointment with a HCP can be difficult [30, 31, 34].”
HCPs felt that if they disagree with information that the patient highly values, this may adversely affect the patient-HCP relationship.
“HCP’s felt that if they disagree with information that the patient highly values, this may adversely affect the patient-HCP relationship [31, 47].”
Most people did not feel that online self-diagnosis and health research had an impact on their relationship with HCPs.
“It was also clear that most people did not feel that online self-diagnosis and health research had an impact on their relationship with HCP’s [27, 30, 31, 50, 51].”
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References 20 · Cited by 212
- Authors
- Stevenson, F. A., Kerr, C., Murray, E., & Nazareth, I.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Stevenson, Fiona A
- Venue
- BMC Family Practice
- Published
- 2007-08-16
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 47-47
- ISSN
- 1471-2296 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2041946
- OpenAlex
- W2077126731
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 19.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Family Practice (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Bupa Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare
- Keywords
- online health information, physician-patient relationship, patient perspectives, patient activism, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, hepatitis C, experiential knowledge, consultation, physician-patient partnership
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Attitude to Computers, Diabetes Mellitus, Female, United Kingdom, Hepatitis C, Humans, Information Services, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Education as Topic, Patient Participation, Physician-Patient Relations, Quality Assurance, Health Care, Socioeconomic Factors, User-Computer Interface, Patient Satisfaction, Focus Groups, Myocardial Ischemia, Internet
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