Use and impact of digital paediatric advice sources for parents
This year, the Käthe Zingg-Schwichtenberg Fund, in cooperation with the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, has awarded funding to four projects addressing the topic “Impact of digitalisation on the patients–health professionals relationship”. One of the selected projects was submitted by Prof. Dr. Julia Dratva, head of the ZHAW Research Unit for Health Sciences. She and her team are doing research on digital advice sources for parents, their use and their impact on physician–parent interaction in paediatric examinations.
Most of today’s young parents grew up with digital media. A vast range of digital advice sources, such as websites, apps, social networks and forums, are available to them in their search for answers to paediatric health questions. The internet offers parents the opportunity to take on an active role in the paediatric decision-making process. However, the flood of information as well as doubts regarding the trustworthiness of information can also make them feel uncertain.
The project “Digital advice sources for parents” investigates which digital or traditional information sources are used by parents of children aged 0 to 24 months, what topics they inform themselves about, how they assess the trustworthiness of the information, and how the use of digital information sources impacts the interaction between parents and physicians.
Method
[Translate to english:] Die Studie basiert auf einem Mixed-Methods Design. Im Rahmen einer Online-Befragung wird eine repräsentative Stichprobe von rund 4000 Elternteilen mit Kindern im Alter 0-24 Monaten im Kanton Zürich erhoben. Des Weiteren sind Fokusgruppen mit einer Auswahl der an der Online- Befragung teilnehmenden Eltern sowie mit PädiaterInnen geplant, um vertieft die Auswirkungen auf die Arzt/Ärztin-Eltern Interaktion zu untersuchen.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Julia Dratva, ZHAW Gesundheit, Technikumstrasse 81, 8400 Winterthur
phone: +41 (0) 58 934 63 72, e-mail: julia.dratva@zhaw.ch
Käthe Zingg-Schwichtenberg Fund
At the suggestion of the Central Ethics Committee (CEC) of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMW), the 2017 call for proposals of the Käthe Zingg-Schwichtenberg Fund had the theme “Impact of digitalisation on the patients–health professionals relationship”. The selection committee chose four projects to be funded.
For 2017, a total amount of 250,000 Swiss francs is available from the KZS Fund. This amount is used exclusively to fund new research projects and not ones that are already in progress. 28 proposals were submitted by the deadline of 31 May 2017. Through a diligent evaluation process, the SAMW selected the following four projects:
- Dr. Julia Dratva, School of Health Professions, ZHAW, Winterthur
Digitale Elternratgeber – Nutzung und Einfluss auf die Arzt-Eltern-Interaktion in der pädiatrischen Vorsorge (CHF 57,774) - Dr. Stuart McLennan, Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel
Physician Rating Websites in Switzerland (CHF 73,325) - Dr. Céline Bourquin Sachse, Service de psychiatrie de liaison, CHUV, Lausanne
How Internet-informed patients transform the role of physicians, the clinical encounter, and the practice of medicine (CHF 75,210) - Marcello Ienca, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich
Digitalizing Elderly Care in Switzerland: Opportunities and Challenges (CHF 60,000)
The next call for proposals of the KZS Fund will be launched in winter 2017/18. You can find information on all the SAMW funding programmes and future calls at samw.ch/funding.