To really understand online health searchers, you have to observe them in the wild.

Many of the studies focusing on this group examine their historical search activity.  For example, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has reported that “61% of American adults have looked online for health information.” Manhattan Research recently found that 35% of “the U.S. adult population used social media for health and medical purposes in 2009.”

This research is extremely valuable, but it still raises lots of questions.  Some of the most important include:

• What types of content are people paying attention to during a search and why?
• Does banner blindness extend to health search — i.e., are people ignoring content presented in banner advertisements?
• Drug companies are producing Flash banner advertisements where safety (or side effect) information scrolls across the ad, but are searchers paying attention to this content? (If they aren’t, what does this mean for those famous warning letters the FDA distributed earlier this year?)

These questions are critically important because the FDA wants to understand how people use links and (in a broader sense) how they search for online health information.

Observing Health Searchers in Their Natural Habitat

During my presentation to FDA, I will be addressing question four on the FDA’s list of queries, which focuses on links and how people searching for online content use them.

To answer this question, we (meaning the firm I run Envision Solutions), commissioned an online user experience study.  We asked five men (from 35 – 55 years old and making between $40 K and 100 K +) to conduct a search on behalf of a friend looking for FDA approved treatments for low testosterone.  (It turns out that five users are a good number to study, as this gives you a good sense of some of the major issues associated with a Website, or in this case, online health search.)

We picked this condition partly because Solvay Pharmaceuticals makes AndroGel, a low testosterone treatment, and sponsors a microsite on WebMD about the condition.  Solvay’s WebMD site features educational and safety (side effect) information about AndroGel.

Health searchers were asked to answer the following questions:

• What sites did you feel had the most trustworthy information and why?
• What types of content did you pay attention to MOST during your search (i.e., educational content, advertisements, etc.)?
• How are you reading content you find? Are you reading every word or scanning the page?
• What’s frustrating or satisfying about the search?
• What are the FDA-approved treatments for low testosterone levels?
• What are the side effects of these medications?

The results of the study were very revealing.  Among other things, we found that:

• Banner blindness is real.  Many searchers actively avoided sponsored content on Google and on the AndroGel WebMD microsite
• Searchers had a hard time finding information about drug side effects, partly because of the terms used (”safety” rather than “side effects”)
• Many searchers expressed frustration about the amount of sponsored or promotional content they had to wade through to find information.

My FDA Presentation

I’m going to be presenting a brief summary of this research next week during my testimony at the FDA public meeting. I will also be submitting an executive summary of the study (and one of the health search videos we recorded) to the FDA prior to its February 2010 deadline for additional comments.

To download my presentation to the FDA, click here.

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1. Finally! Identifying and Setting Social Media Benchmarks for Public Health Campaigns
2. Older E-Patients Crave Information, Not Friendship from Health Organizations Communicating Via Social Media
3. Ask Living the Path: How Are Hispanics, African Americans Using Digital Tech?