Health information seeking in the digital age: a national survey of women with disabilities

Purpose Access to high quality and accessible online health information (OHI) is critical for reducing disparities, overcoming barriers, and improving the health of women with disabilities. This study aimed to understand women with physical disabilities' use of the Internet to access OHI, most often searched health topics, perceived usefulness of OHI, and self-reported eHealth literacy and challenges in OHI seeking. Methods We conducted a national online survey with 508 women with physical disabilities who used the Internet. Results Respondents utilized a wide variety of OHI resources. They searched a broad array of health and disability-related topics, with bowel/bladder and finding a physician the most highly searched topics. They generally had confidence in their eHealth literacy skills and ability to understand statistics in OHI. Nevertheless, although our sample consisted of a majority of highly educated internet-users, a sizeable percentage found OHI seeking difficult and frustrating, did not find the information very helpful, and had concerns about the quality of information. Conclusions This study serves as a call to action to disability and rehabilitation scientists, health care providers, and other health professionals to enhance the availability and accessibility of OHI critical to empowering women with physical disabilities to make well-informed health decisions.