Madle, G;
Kostkova, P;
Mani-Saada, J;
Weinberg, J;
Williams, P;
(2004)
Changing public attitudes to antibiotic prescribing: can the internet help?
Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics
, 12
(1)
pp. 19-26.
10.14236/jhi.v12i1.104.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem with serious implications for modern medicine. Education of the public is essential for reducing patient pressure on GPs and subsequent inappropriate prescribing. Evaluation of educational interventions is necessary to assess their impact on public knowledge and attitudes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a health information website, part of the National electronic Library of Infection, on user knowledge and attitudes. METHOD: Questionnaires testing user knowledge and attitudes before and after using the website. RESULTS: There were significant improvements in knowledge about the use of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Expectations that antibiotics should be prescribed were significantly reduced after using the website. Health professionals showed a significantly greater knowledge about antibiotics and were less likely to expect antibiotics to be prescribed for acute otitis media than non-health professionals before using the website. There was no significant difference between the knowledge of these groups after using the website, but non-health professionals continued to have higher expectations of antibiotics being prescribed than health professionals. CONCLUSIONS: Health information websites can play a significant role in influencing public knowledge and attitudes. Further research is needed to investigate how people learn from these interventions and to determine their long-term impact on public attitudes and subsequent behaviour.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Changing public attitudes to antibiotic prescribing: can the internet help? |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.14236/jhi.v12i1.104 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.14236/jhi.v12i1.104 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal starting from Volume 21 without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access |
| Keywords: | Anti-Bacterial Agents, Drug Prescriptions, Drug Resistance, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Health Services Research, Internet, Public Opinion |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Inst for Risk and Disaster Reduction UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Information Studies |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10088818 |
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