TY  - JOUR
AU  - Coglianese, Fabiana
AU  - Beltrame Vriz, Giulia
AU  - Soriani, Nicola
AU  - Piras, Gianluca Niccolò
AU  - Comoretto, Rosanna Irene
AU  - Clemente, Laura
AU  - Fasan, Jessica
AU  - Cristiano, Lucia
AU  - Schiavinato, Valentina
AU  - Adamo, Valter
AU  - Marchesoni, Diego
AU  - Gregori, Dario
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/5/6
TI  - Effect of Online Health Information Seeking on Anxiety in Hospitalized Pregnant Women: Cohort Study
JO  - JMIR Med Inform
SP  - e16793
VL  - 8
IS  - 5
KW  - anxiety
KW  - pregnant women
KW  - web health information
KW  - internet use
AB  - 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. 
SN  - 2291-9694
UR  - https://medinform.jmir.org/2020/5/e16793
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/16793
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32374268
DO  - 10.2196/16793
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/16793
ER  -