Internet guidance in oncology practice: determinants of health professionals' Internet referral behavior

AbstractBackgroundMany cancer patients turn to the Internet to obtain information on their disease. This digital quest is often motivated by a perceived discrepancy between the information received from health professionals and patients' actual informational needs. This discrepancy may be reduced by supplementing standard patient education with reliable online information sources. This study investigates health professionals' opinions, cognitions, and behavior regarding referring cancer patients to Internet‐based information.MethodsOnline and written questionnaires were distributed among Dutch oncology nurses and medical specialists, measuring perception of patients' informational needs, prompted and unprompted Internet referral, and socio‐cognitive factors regarding referral behavior.ResultsHealth professionals (N = 130) positively appraised Internet use among cancer patients. Despite recognizing patients' needs for additional information (84%) and need for referral to reliable websites (67%), only 20% frequently referred patients to Internet‐based information. Prompted Internet referral was higher (64%). Motives for nonreferral included unfamiliarity with websites and uncertainty