Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Parental internet search in the field of pediatric orthopedics

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Parents whose children are affected by systemic diseases, anomalies, deformities, or further orthopedic defective positions use the Internet to increase their knowledge. However, there have been few studies that focus, as this one does, on Internet enquiries done before the parents contact the pediatric orthopedic surgeon. This study analyzed data gathered through a standardized questionnaire on general habits of Internet use, parents’ hardware, age, and educational background of the parents. A total of 521 questionnaires were completed for a response rate of 96%. One-quarter of parents (n = 127) attended the consultation because of a gait anomaly or foot deformity, followed by children with DDH (20%, n = 99), clubfoot (9%, n = 47), and scoliosis (6%, n = 29). Parents of children with clubfoot were especially likely to look for health information online (84%, n = 38), followed by parents of children with scoliosis (69%, n = 20), with DDH (67%, n = 66), and with foot deformity/gait anomaly (49%, n = 62). Most people (97%, n = 295) using the Internet for health research purposes made use of a search engine. Concerning use of social media, respondents with clubfoot children were the most numerous (38%, n = 18). There were 35 parents who intended to discuss the results of their Internet research with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Most (84%, n = 254) of the respondents who used the Internet for health research planned to do so again.

Conclusion: This study documented that the Internet is an important and popular source of information for parents or caregivers in the field of pediatric orthopedics.

Level of evidence: Level II; prospective study

What is known:

•Parents and caregivers often search the Internet for information, particularly before an upcoming operation in the field of orthopedic disorders.

What is new:

•This study provides recent data on parental Internet research in a large study population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aslam N, Bowyer D, Wainwright A, Theologis T, Benson M (2005) Evaluation of internet use by paediatric orthopaedic outpatients and the quality of information available. J Pediatr Orthop B 14(2):129–133

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Baker J, Devitt B, Lynch S, C G, Byrne D, Kiely P (2012) Internet use by parents of children attending a dedicated scoliosis outpatient clinic. Eur Spine J 21(10):1972–1977

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Beall MS 3rd, Golladay GJ, Greenfield ML, Hensinger RN, Biermann JS (2002) Use of the internet by pediatric orthopaedic outpatients. J Pediatr Orthop 22(2):261–264

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Curry E, Li X, Nguyen J, Matzkin E (2014) Prevalence of internet and social media usage in orthopedic surgery. Orthop Rev (Pavia) 6(3):5483. https://doi.org/10.4081/or.2014.5483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. De Martino I, D’Apolito R, McLawhorn AS, Fehring KA, Sculco PK, Gasparini G (2017) Social media for patients: benefits and drawbacks. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med 10(1):141–145

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Dekkers T, Melles M, Groeneveld BS, de Ridder H (2018) Web-based patient education in orthopedics: systematic review. J Med Internet Res 20(4):e143. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.9013

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Duymus TM, Karadeniz H, Cacan MA, Komur B, Demirtas A, Zehir S, Azboy I (2017) Internet and social media usage of orthopaedic patients: a questionnaire-based survey. World J Orthop 8(2):178–186. https://doi.org/10.5312/wjo.v8.i2.178

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Eysenbach G (2008) Medicine 2.0: social networking, collaboration, participation, apomediation, and openness. J Med Internet Res 10(3):e22. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1030

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Eysenbach G, Kohler C (2003) What is the prevalence of health-related searches on the World Wide Web? Qualitative and quantitative analysis of search engine queries on the internet. In: AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings. American Medical Informatics Association, p 225

  10. Eysenbach G, Wyatt J (2002) Using the internet for surveys and health research. J Med Internet Res 4(2):E13. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4.2.e13

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Fraval A, Ming Chong Y, Holcdorf D, Plunkett V, Tran P (2012) Internet use by orthopaedic outpatients - current trends and practices. Australas Med J 5(12):633–638. https://doi.org/10.4066/amj.2012.1530

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Grajales FJ 3rd, Sheps S, Ho K, Novak-Lauscher H, Eysenbach G (2014) Social media: a review and tutorial of applications in medicine and health care. J Med Internet Res 16(2):e13. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2912

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Gupte C, Hassan A, McDermott I, Thomas R (2002) The internet–friend or foe? A questionnaire study of orthopaedic out-patients. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 84(3):187–192

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Hand F, Mc Dowell DT, Glynn R, Rowley H, Mortell A (2013) Patterns of internet use by parents of children attending a pediatric surgical service. Pediatr Surg Int 29(7):729–733

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Harvey S, Memon A, Khan R, Yasin F (2017) Parent’s use of the Internet in the search for healthcare information and subsequent impact on the doctor–patient relationship. Ir J Med Sci 1971:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kirchhoff S, Kuhnt S, Lipp PS Siegfried (2010): Der Fragebogen. Datenbasis Konstruktion und Auswertung. 5. Aufl Wiesbaden

  17. Koller U, Waldstein W, Schatz KD, Windhager R (2016) YouTube provides irrelevant information for the diagnosis and treatment of hip arthritis. Int Orthop 40(10):1995–2002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Lander ST, Sanders JO, Cook PC, O’Malley NT (2017) Social media in pediatric orthopaedics. J Pediatr Orthop 37:e436–e439. https://doi.org/10.1097/bpo.0000000000001032

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Lysenko M, Law P, Jarvis J, Wright JG (2016) Improving education and coping of scoliosis patients undergoing surgery, and their families, using e-health. J Child Orthop 10(6):673–683

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. MacLeod MG, Hoppe DJ, Simunovic N, Bhandari M, Philippon MJ, Ayeni OR (2015) YouTube as an information source for femoroacetabular impingement: a systematic review of video content. Arthroscopy 31(1):136–142

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Moorhead SA, Hazlett DE, Harrison L, Carroll JK, Irwin A, Hoving C (2013) A new dimension of health care: systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. J Med Internet Res 15(4):e85

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Morcuende JA, Egbert M, Ponseti IV (2003) The effect of the internet in the treatment of congenital idiopathic clubfoot. Iowa Orthop J 23:83

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Pehora C, Gajaria N, Stoute M, Fracassa S, Serebale-O'Sullivan R, Matava CT (2015) Are parents getting it right? A survey of parents’ Internet use for children’s health care information. Interact J Med Res 4(2):e12. https://doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.3790

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Pennekamp PH, Diedrich O, Schmitt O, Kraft CN (2006) Frequency and utility of internet use by orthopaedic patients. Z Orthop Grenzgeb 144(5):459–463. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2006-942237

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Peterlein CD, Schofer MD, Guntermann LC, Timmesfeld N, Fuchs-Winkelmann S, Schmitt J (2009) Parental enquiries before frequenting the outpatient paediatric orthopaedic consultation--focus Internet. Z Orthop Unfall 147(6):721–726. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0029-1185898

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Rajagopalan MS, Khanna VK, Leiter Y, Stott M, Showalter TN, Dicker AP, Lawrence YR (2011) Patient-oriented cancer information on the internet: a comparison of wikipedia and a professionally maintained database. J Oncol Pract 7(5):319–323

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Rozental TD, George TM, Chacko AT (2010) Social networking among upper extremity patients. J Hand Surg [Am] 35(5):819–823.e811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsa.2009.12.043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Sebelefsky C, Voitl J, Karner D, Klein F, Voitl P, Bock A (2016) Internet use of parents before attending a general pediatric outpatient clinic: does it change their information level and assessment of acute diseases? BMC Pediatr 16:129. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-016-0677-8

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Shuyler KS, Knight KM (2003) What are patients seeking when they turn to the internet? Qualitative content analysis of questions asked by visitors to an orthopaedics web site. J Med Internet Res 5(4)

  30. Sim NZ, Kitteringham L, Spitz L, Pierro A, Kiely E, Drake D, Curry J (2007) Information on the World Wide Web—how useful is it for parents? J Pediatr Surg 42(2):305–312

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Taylor MR, Alman A, Manchester DK (2001) Use of the internet by patients and their families to obtain genetics-related information. Mayo Clin Proc 76(8):772–776. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-6196(11)63219-9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Tuffrey C, Finlay F (2002) Use of the internet by parents of paediatric outpatients. Arch Dis Child 87(6):534–536

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Wang L, Wang J, Wang M, Li Y, Liang Y, Xu D (2012) Using internet search engines to obtain medical information: a comparative study. J Med Internet Res 14(3):e74

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Baldingerstraße, 35041, Marburg, Germany

    Christian-Dominik Peterlein, Maren Bosch & Susanne Fuchs-Winkelmann

  2. Institute of Medical Biometry and Epidemiology, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Nina Timmesfeld

Authors
  1. Christian-Dominik Peterlein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maren Bosch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nina Timmesfeld
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Susanne Fuchs-Winkelmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Christian-Dominik Peterlein: conceptualization; writing initial draft. Maren Bosch: data curation; layout tables and figures. Nina Timmesfeld: statistical analysis. Susanne Fuchs-Winkelmann: conceptualization; project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian-Dominik Peterlein.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies on human participants or animals.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Communicated by Mario Bianchetti

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peterlein, CD., Bosch, M., Timmesfeld, N. et al. Parental internet search in the field of pediatric orthopedics. Eur J Pediatr 178, 929–935 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03369-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03369-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation