@Article{info:doi/10.2196/16793,
author="Coglianese, Fabiana
and Beltrame Vriz, Giulia
and Soriani, Nicola
and Piras, Gianluca Niccol{\`o}
and Comoretto, Rosanna Irene
and Clemente, Laura
and Fasan, Jessica
and Cristiano, Lucia
and Schiavinato, Valentina
and Adamo, Valter
and Marchesoni, Diego
and Gregori, Dario",
title="Effect of Online Health Information Seeking on Anxiety in Hospitalized Pregnant Women: Cohort Study",
journal="JMIR Med Inform",
year="2020",
month="May",
day="6",
volume="8",
number="5",
pages="e16793",
keywords="anxiety; pregnant women; web health information; internet use",
abstract="Background: There are approximately 1,000,000 pregnant women at high risk for obstetric complications per year, more than half of whom require hospitalization. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relation between online health information seeking and anxiety levels in a sample of hospitalized woman with pregnancy-related complications. Methods: A sample of 105 pregnant women hospitalized in northern Italy, all with an obstetric complication diagnosis, completed different questionnaires: Use of Internet Health-information (UIH) questionnaire about use of the internet, EuroQOL 5 dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire on quality of life, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire measuring general anxiety levels, and a questionnaire about critical events occurring during hospitalization. Results: Overall, 98/105 (93.3{\%}) of the women used the internet at home to obtain nonspecific information about health in general and 95/105 (90.5{\%}) of the women used the internet to specifically search for information related to their obstetric disease. Online health information-seeking behavior substantially decreased the self-reported anxiety levels (P=.008). Conclusions: Web browsing for health information was associated with anxiety reduction, suggesting that the internet can be a useful instrument in supporting professional intervention to control and possibly reduce discomfort and anxiety for women during complicated pregnancies. ",
issn="2291-9694",
doi="10.2196/16793",
url="https://medinform.jmir.org/2020/5/e16793",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/16793",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32374268"
}