Hopelab & Well Being Trust 33
Connecting to Health Providers Online
One in five young people report having connected with health providers
online. Twenty percent of 14- to 22-year-old respondents say they
have connected with a health provider online: 10% through online
messaging, 8% through texting, 5% through an app, and 4% through
video chat.
Peer-to-peer Health Online
Teens and young adults turn to each other for advice when making all
kinds of decisions – including those related to health. Previous studies
have shown that about two in ten U.S. adults have gone online to find
people who might have health concerns similar to theirs.
19
This study
shows that youth lead the way in the social revolution that is underway
in health.
About four in ten (39%) young people say they have gone online to
try to find people with health conditions similar to their own. Most of
those who tried to find such "health peers" online reported that they
did succeed in finding them (84%). This means that, across all survey
respondents, a total of 33% of young people have successfully found
health peers online. Almost all (91%) of those who found health peers
online say the experience was at least "somewhat" helpful: 20% say
it was "very" helpful and 71% say "somewhat."
The majority (61%) of teens and young adults report reading or
watching other people share about their health experiences online.
This includes teens and young adults who have watched TED talks,
seen YouTube videos, or read blogs or social media accounts of a
variety of personal health stories. Fifteen percent of young people
say they have shared their own personal health experience online
in some fashion.
19
Fox, S. "Peer to peer Health Care" (Pew
Internet Project; February 28, 2011). See:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/02/28/
peer-to-peer-health-care-2/
Digital Health Practices
Digital Health Practices Among
Teens and Young Adults
