Exploring the Impact of Information Seeking Behaviors of Online Health Consumers in the Arab World

Abstract

In the Arab world, increasing numbers of people are seeking online health related information for diagnoses, medicine, fitness, pharmaceutical drugs, and smoking cessation programs, among others. Studies exploring the impact of social media channels on health seeking behavior among Arabic users are limited. This study has two goals: (1) describe the prevalence of online health information-seeking behavior in the Arab world, and (2) study the impacts of social media based platforms in helping promote healthy living in the Arab world. In order to gather primary data, a web-based cross-sectional survey with a total of 7013 self-administered questionnaires was sent via SMS messages (n=1278), to Twitter followers of an Arab women's health social media account (n=3630 followers), and WhatsApp messages (n=2105) to participants above 16 years of age representing different socioeconomic groups and within the Arabic speaking world. The findings of this study show high interest among the participants (84.9%) in seeking online health information. Furthermore, reporting online information had an impact on participant health behaviors. Social media can play an important role in strengthening the health care system to provide valuable information, educational programs and interventions to promote healthy life styles among the Arabic people.