Online health resources could do more harm than good for older adults, according to Julie Robillard, Assistant Professor of Neurology at UBC.
Robillard runs a lab at the David Mowafaghian Brain Centre. The research that goes on there looks at different types of information resources — particularly about dementia.
“We’re looking at many different types of online resources like self-tests, but also just websites and social media,” said Robillard.
In question-and-answer sites, users are going to give all kinds of advice. While some are good and others bad, some of the advice has just been copied from other websites, according to Robillard. As such, we might want to hold off for a little while on asking Google or Yahoo! Answers what that cough means.
However, Robillard does paint a prettier picture for the online health resource community.
“There’s potential for huge benefit — tapping into a community of people who share your concerns and certain online interventions. For example, for caregivers of people with dementia, [this] can improve well-being,” she said.
Robillard predicts that telehealth — doctors interacting with their patients through video — will be the next step. “Especially as it is good for reaching remote populations and rural populations. That said it will be critical for these platforms to be developed and implemented ethically,” said Robillard.
All of these facts point to how online health resources have enormous potential to supplement our current health system, but they may not be enough to completely substitute for the latter just yet.
At the same time, some online health resources may contain valuable and accurate information. So how do we tell which is which?
“Any sites that require you to enter personal information — that’s a red flag,” she said. “One of the things we found in my work is that websites that are of higher quality tend to give out information that is more balanced. They use more careful vocabulary, for example. Any websites that talk about a cure, guarantee something or promises to completely reverse dementia — those are the kinds of things you need to be very careful with.”
It is likely a good idea keep these signs in mind the next time we see suggestions for a miracle pill online. Internet health resources still have a ways to go before becoming uniformly trustworthy.