Forty-six percent of women report using a Google search the last time they needed information on a health care issue, compared with 28% of men, according to a new survey from Capstrat and Public Policy Polling.
Sixty-three percent of women said they believed health information found through a Google search was reliable, compared with 53% of men.
Thirteen percent of women and 11% of men said they turned to an online forum the last time they needed information on a health topic.
After asking where people turn to for health information, the poll asked which sources they trust. Health advocacy groups emerged as a particularly trusted source of online health information: 71 percent judged Web content of such groups “somewhat reliable” or “extremely reliable,”considerably higher than the 59 percent who felt that way about organic Google searches.
+ 32 percent of African Americans cited Google as the most influence source for health decisions, compared to only 15 percent of Hispanics who found Google influential
+ 63 percent of women considered Google reliable on health, compared to 53 percent of men
+ 53 percent of respondents ages 30 to 45 found online forums to be reliable, compared to only 37 percent of respondents ages 46 to 65
+ 65 percent found a phone conversation with a nurse to be somewhat or extremely reliable
Source: Capstrat and Public Policy Polling
Note: It is not clear if the term "Google" literally means Google or is a term to represent all web search engines.
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