Understanding the Intersectionality of Digital Information, Medical Encounters and Patient-Reported Outcomes:A Gendered Approach

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  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 10. Healthcare Workers and Experts

Abstract

Objectives: The current study examines whether e-health information consumerism is associated with patient-reported outcomes, which are conceptualized into sense of empowerment, self-care and negative affect. We also examined whether patient satisfaction with communicational and interactional aspects of medical encounters moderated these associations and whether differential gender-based patterns existed.
Methods: Participants were recruited from the probability-based research panel developed by Knowledge Networks. Data were collected with an online survey from randomly selected panel members who used the Internet for health information (N = 710). After performing descriptive and bivariate analyses, we examined regression analyses that included four nested models with main effects and statistical interaction terms (e-health information consumerism x satisfaction with communication; and e-health information consumerism x satisfaction with interactions). We also examined the models in the full and gender-stratified samples. As a last step, simple slope analyses that plotted the significant interactions were conducted.
Results: The results show that lower levels of satisfaction with interactional aspects of medical encounters increases the perception of deriving greater benefits from e-health information consumerism. Gender analyses show that the association between e-health information consumerism with negative affect is robust in the female sample (β = .815, P = .01) while no significant association exists in the male sample. In contrast, the effect of e-health information consumerism on self-care is a robust predictor in the male sample (β = .721, P = .002).
Conclusions: This study underscores the importance of medical encounters in moderating the effect of e-health information consumerism on patient-reported outcomes. e-Health information consumerism can translate into health benefits if it is deployed in an informed manner, and promotes medical encounters satisfactory to both patients and health providers. Thus, understanding of the intersectionality of online health information use, patient satisfaction, gender differences, and patient-reported outcomes is important for further exploration as digital pathways link internet use to patient-reported outcomes.

Authors

• Gul Seckin, University of North Texas

• Cassie E Hudson, The University of North Texas

• Susan Hughes, Ouachita Baptist University

• Patricia Campbell, University of North Texas

• Dale Elgert Yeatts, University of North Texas

• Megan Lawson, University of North Texas