Medical terminology in online patient–patient communication

Evidence of high health literacy

Dados Bibliográficos

ID19506625
AutoresAntoinette Fage-Butler (0000-0002-4849-0227, Aarhus University), Antoinette M Fage‐Butler (Department of Business Communication Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark), Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger (0000-0001-5133-1529, Aarhus University, autor correspondente), Matilde Nisbeth Jensen (Department of Business Communication Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark)
Ano2016
Volume19
Fascículo3
Páginas643-653
Data de publicação2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHealth Expectations (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1369-6513 • E-ISSN: 1369-7625
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/hex.12395
PMID26287945
OpenAlexW2126912606
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas12
Referências citadas47

BACKGROUND: Health communication research and guidelines often recommend that medical terminology be avoided when communicating with patients due to their limited understanding of medical terms. However, growing numbers of e-patients use the Internet to equip themselves with specialized biomedical knowledge that is couched in medical terms, which they then share on participatory media, such as online patient forums. OBJECTIVE: Given possible discrepancies between preconceptions about the kind of language that patients can understand and the terms they may actually know and use, the purpose of this paper was to investigate medical terminology used by patients in online patient forums. DESIGN: Using data from online patient-patient communication where patients communicate with each other without expert moderation or intervention, we coded two data samples from two online patient forums dedicated to thyroid issues. RESULTS: Previous definitions of medical terms (dichotomized into technical and semi-technical) proved too rudimentary to encapsulate the types of medical terms the patients used. Therefore, using an inductive approach, we developed an analytical framework consisting of five categories of medical terms: dictionary-defined medical terms, co-text-defined medical terms, medical initialisms, medication brand names and colloquial technical terms. The patients in our data set used many medical terms from all of these categories. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the value of a situated, condition-specific approach to health literacy that recognizes the vertical kind of knowledge that patients with chronic diseases may have. We make cautious recommendations for clinical practice, arguing for an adaptive approach to medical terminology use with patients

Citizen journalism · Health care · Health communication · Health literacy · Linguistics · Medical education · Moderation · Plain language · Terminology · The Internet · Unified Medical Language System · World Wide Web · Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies · Computer Science · Health Literacy and Information Accessibility · Medical Terminology · Medicine · Nursing · Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence