Arabic Online Health Information (OHI) use by the public in Saudi Arabia: A scoping review

Problem

Despite the rise in the use of the internet among the public in Saudi Arabia, there is a lack of formal review of it, and if so how, the internet is used for information about health. We conducted a scoping review to explore what is known and inform future research in this area.

Approach

A search strategy was developed around three search concepts: Saudi Arabia, the Internet and health information. Eleven databases were searched (8 Global, 3 Arabic). Studies were screened and data extracted, Arabic data were translated into English. Results of the studies were mapped and analysed inductively.

Findings

A total of 84 studies were included in the review. Two different focuses were identified with some overlap: the internet as a source of knowledge about a health-related topic; and how online health information is used. Quantitative results showed that the internet was identified as a source of health knowledge for a median of 32.2% (IQR: 21.7;52.5) of participants. Younger, female, those with higher education and higher monthly income, as well as people living with chronic conditions were identified as more likely to use the internet. Consumers reported using the internet in Arabic approximately twice a month. Video and short messages regarding health information on social media platforms were preferred. . Healthcare providers’ personal accounts or pages followed by governmental spaces were most used and trusted. Although most reported health information was useful, they tend to judge available Arabic online health information content as untrustworthy and unreliable.

Consequences

The findings indicate an appetite for more reliable and trustworthy online health information (OHI) content in Arabic. This indicates a need for more research in this area, specifically in-depth exploration of factors that affect consumers’ trust and perception of reliability in order to provide insights into ways to provide Arabic OHI content. This will be the next study in my PhD.