How to Research as a Patient – Finding Credible Health Information Online

With a vast amount of information at our fingertips, it can be impossible to know which sources to trust when it comes to your healthcare. As a patient, researching online about your symptoms, diagnosis, or treatment options can be a difficult process of contradictory opinions, but there are steps you can take to make it easier to find reliable information about your health. 

It’s important to know who operates a website, and what their agenda really is. Does the author provide references? Do other websites and sources agree with that information? Are their facts up to date? Are they selling any products associated with their claims? Do they use fear or cause anxiety to incentivise you to buy their products?  These are all questions to ask yourself before believing a health claim.  

When researching your health, you may come across a wide variety of different scientific papers filled with medical jargon. It can be hard for non-medical professionals to understand whether a study is credible or not. 

Firstly, a research paper should be published in the last ten years to be anyway useful, and magazine or newspaper articles should be published in the last three years. It’s important to consider the author’s credentials, and education relevant to their claim. You should only trust information from properly-educated and licensed healthcare professionals in their respective fields. For example, just because someone is highly-regarded in podiatry, doesn’t mean they can answer any questions about blood pressure or treatment of diabetes. 

Secondly, you must also consider who or what organisations are funding the research, as they could be attempting to sell a product or boost a particular industry. There have been many cases of pharmaceutical companies receiving financial gain for doctored or biased results in their studies. Ensuring medical research is peer-reviewed is a solid method to avoiding this issue. It is also good to consider what the general consensus is on a topic in that particular medical field, and remain cautious towards claims that have only a few studies in their favour. 

Types of studies typically fall under two categories: observational and experimental.

Observational studies focus on collecting descriptive information and are used when researchers aim to observe a phenomenon without intervening. These studies cannot determine causal relationships or explain what exactly is causing a particular circumstance. 

Experimental studies, on the other hand, involve some type of intervention by researchers. This could include introducing participants to a varying dosage of a new drug and observing the effects. Experimental studies seek to explain why a particular phenomenon occurs and can be used to determine causal relationships. Examples of experimental studies include quasi-experiments and randomized-controlled experiments.

These kinds of academic papers can seem really daunting at first glance, but they are a great way to receive credible and peer-reviewed healthcare information. Understanding the format of a paper can it make it easier to understand what you’re reading: 

• The introduction is a summary of the research and findings of a paper. It’s a really good way to understand briefly what the paper is about, and what conclusions they drew from their research 

• The method and materials section is usually after the introduction, and explains how they carried out their research and with what tools. 

• The results and conclusion sections explains what they found through their research, explaining any outliers, and providing an explanation for why they think the results turned out the way they did. They may also include what they would do better or what other researchers should improve on to make the study more robust and unbiased. 

• Underneath, authors, researchers, and references to other studies are included, as well as if they received any funding, and from what organisations. 

Despite your best efforts, it’s not always possible to access or understand scientific research. You should always remain skeptical of any health or medical advice you find online. If you have doubts about a particular product or treatment, don’t be afraid to trust your instinct. Choosing what goes into your body, and how you treat it, is your right, and should never be coerced by others. 

For more videos and resources like this, check out our Learning Academy, or attend our patient advocacy through Zoom workshops for Northern Ireland and Los Angeles. These workshops provide knowledge helpful to anyone in the world.

Our Online Peer to Peer Events include more videos related to this topic.

Written by Emily Linehan.