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Abstract

The availability of health information to populations lacking professional medical knowledge and skills may exacerbate global health challenges, such as self-medication and reduced patient compliance. Aims: analysis of the impact of medical information on self-medication and patient compliance. Materials and methods: questionnaire (n = 2888); 91.1% of respondents were from the Far Eastern Federal District. The statistical analysis used the Kendall rank correlation coefficient. Results: The results of the study demonstrate the relevance of the problem of self-medication, the correlation of its frequency with young age and female sex, and low compliance. Most often in digital sources, respondents are searching for information about the doctor, diagnosis, and clinic because of the desire to "hedge." For most respondents, the presence of negative information about the doctor is a reason to doubt the diagnosis or treatment, as well as choose another specialist. Conclusions: The patient's attitude to self-medication and compliance, as well as the factors that are forming them, are largely determined by the characteristics of the patient himself, as well as the attitude to the doctors and the content of information. It is necessary to monitor medical information on the Internet using identification systems.‎

Keywords: Self-medication, Compliance, Health information seeking, Patients' relationship to doctors

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