Use of the Internet by parents of children with congenital heart disease.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to document the prevalence of Internet access and usage patterns among families with children diagnosed with congenital heart disease.


METHODS
A questionnaire was administered to the parents of 509 unselected children with congenital heart disease attending the outpatient cardiac clinic.


RESULTS
389 questionnaires were completed. The most common source for acquiring medical information was via the paediatric cardiologist (83%), the family doctor (53%), the general paediatrician (40%) and the Internet (15%). Among the 238 families with Internet access (62%), the most common locations for Internet access were home (74%) and work (33%), and 84 used the Internet to obtain information related to their child's cardiac diagnosis, mostly at the time of diagnosis. Two-thirds of these families considered finding information related to the cardiac diagnosis as easy or very easy, and found this information helpful or very helpful.


CONCLUSIONS
A quarter of the families uses the Internet to find information about their child's congenital heart disease. Internet use in this patient population is expected to increase and our vigilance in providing accurate references and in identifying inaccurate information is of paramount importance.
Massin
Martial M
MM
Division of Paediatric Cardiology, Queen Fabiola Children's University Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Belgium. martial.massin@chrcitadelle.be
Montesanti
Jessica
J
Gerard
Paul
P
D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires