Cyberchondria

In this collaborative project with Prof Dr Marie-Luise Dierks and Prof Dr Astrid Müller from Hanover Medical School (MHH) we are looking at the dysfunctional consequences of excessive health-related information searches on the internet. One of the dysfunctional consequences is ‘cyberchondria’. This describes the fact that online users develop serious fears of becoming seriously ill as a result of intensive online research into symptoms of illness, for example.

An online survey of 1,000 participants in an online access panel was used to identify factors influencing ‘cyberchondria’ and fear of illness. These include the type of health-related information behaviour itself as well as socio-demographic, psychosocial and health-related factors and social context factors.

Project Duration

Since 2019

Publications

Cyberchondria (2022)

Müller, A., Baumann, E. & Dierks, M.-L. (2022). Cyberchondria. In E. Ho, C. Bylund & J. van Weert (Hrsg.), The International Encyclopedia of Health Communication (S. 1–6). Wiley. DOI: 10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0624


Cyberchondria - a new behavioural syndrome? (2021)

Müller, A., Baumann, E. & Dierks, M.-L. (2021). Cyberchondrie – ein neues Verhaltenssyndrom? Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medizinische Psychologie, 71(6), 243–255. DOI: 10.1055/a-1348-8059


Presentations

Competent and informed?! The interaction of (digital) health literacy and health information behaviour (2021)

Posselt, J., Giesler, P., Link, E., & Baumann, E. (2021, November). Kompetent und informierter?! Das Zusammenwirken von (digitaler) Gesundheitskompetenz und Gesundheitsinformationshandeln. Presentation at the 6th Annual Conference of the DGPuK Health Communication Specialist Group, November 17th to 19th, 2021, Hohenheim, Germany [digital].


When Google searches make you ill: Identifying the factors influencing cyberchondria (2020)

Link, E., Hefner, D., Baumann, E., Dierks, M.-L. & Müller, A. (2020, November). Wenn die Google-Suche krank macht: Identifikation der Einflussfaktoren von Cyberchondrie. Lecture at the 5th Annual Conference of the DGPuK Health Communication Specialist Group, November 11th to 13th, 2020, Leipzig, Germany [digital].


 

Last modified: 2024-12-17

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