Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo 2015 Volume 143, Issue 7-8, Pages: 438-445
https://doi.org/10.2298/SARH1508438B
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Toxoplasmosis and pregnancy: Reliability of internet sources of information
Bobić Branko (Institute for Medical Research, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Belgrade)
Štajner Tijana (Institute for Medical Research, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Belgrade)
Nikolić Aleksandra (Institute for Medical Research, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Belgrade)
Klun Ivana (Institute for Medical Research, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Belgrade)
Srbljanović Jelena (Institute for Medical Research, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Belgrade)
Đurković-Đaković Olgica (Institute for Medical Research, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Belgrade)
Introduction. Health education of women of childbearing age has been shown to
be an acceptable approach to the prevention of toxoplasmosis, the most
frequent congenitally transmitted parasitic infection. Objective. The aim of
this study was to evaluate the Internet as a source of health education on
toxoplasmosis in pregnancy. Methods. A group of 100 pregnant women examined
in the National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis was surveyed by a
questionnaire on the source of their information on toxoplasmosis. We also
analyzed information offered by websites in the Serbian and Croatian
languages through the Google search engine, using “toxoplasmosis” as a
keyword. The 23 top websites were evaluated for comprehensiveness and
accuracy of information on the impact of toxoplasmosis on the course of
pregnancy, diagnosis and prevention. Results. Having knowledge on
toxoplasmosis was confirmed by 64 (64.0%) examined women, 40.6% (26/64) of
whom learned about toxoplasmosis through the Internet, 48.4% from physicians,
and 10.9% from friends. Increase in the degree of education was found to be
associated with the probability that pregnant women would be informed via the
Internet (RR=3.15, 95% CI=1.27-7.82, p=0.013). Analysis of four interactive
websites (allowing users to ask questions) showed that routes of infection
were the most common concern, particularly the risk presented by pet cats and
dogs, followed by the diagnosis of infection (who and when should be tested,
and how should the results be interpreted). Of 20 sites containing
educational articles, only seven were authorized and two listed sources.
Evaluation confirmed that information relevant to pregnant women was
significantly more accurate than comprehensive, but no site gave both
comprehensive and completely accurate information. Only four sites (20%) were
good sources of information for pregnant women. Conclusion. Internet has
proved itself as an important source of information. However, despite
numerous websites, only a few offer reliable information to the Serbian (or
Croat) speaking community, and none present complete and accurate information
relevant to pregnant women.
Keywords: toxoplasmosis, pregnancy, internet, information, prevention
Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije,
br. III 41019