An Examination of the Effects of Health-related Internet Use in Individuals With Pathological Health Anxiety

An Examination of the Effects of Health-related Internet Use in Individuals With Pathological Health Anxiety in a Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of health-related internet use on affect, health anxiety and symptom severity in individuals with pathological levels of health anxiety. The present randomized controlled study compares an online medical searching condition with a waiting (i.e. non-searching) condition to manipulate the attentional focus. After an induction of health anxiety using the Autobiographical Emotional Memory Task the participants in the searching condition go online and search for subjectively relevant health information (external focus of attention). Individuals in the waiting (i.e. non-searching) condition are requested to do nothing and not to distract themselves (internal focus of attention).

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Hypochondriasis
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Health- and illness-related internet use

Detailed Description

The internet is a popular method for obtaining information. Increasingly, it is also used to answer medical and health related questions, because compared to other methods (e.g. going to the library or visiting a doctor) it has a number of advantages to offer like low costs, availability, easy accessibility, anonymity, and great diversity of information types and sources. 60 to 80 percent of internet users search online for medical information. In this context the term "cyberchondria" was coined in the media to describe the potentially detrimental effects of this behavior. The first studies in this field using self-report retrospective data showed that individuals with elevated levels of health anxiety seem to make increased use of the internet for this purpose and it seems to maintain health anxiety in the long-term. However, up until today little is known about the consequences of this behavior and the maintaining mechanism.

This randomized controlled experimental study investigates the effects of health-related internet use on affect, symptom severity and health anxiety in individuals with pathological health anxiety. Participants will first undergo a baseline assessment. After that health anxiety is induced using the Autobiographical Emotional Memory Task and participants complete another assessment. Then participants are randomly assigned to either an online medical searching condition (experimental group, EG) or a non-searching condition (control group, CG) to manipulate attentional focus. The EG is requested to search online for health information (external focus of attention), the CG is requested to do nothing and not to distract themselves (internal focus of attention). Then another assessment is completed and the treatment groups are compared regarding the effects on affect, symptom severity and health anxiety. Besides examining these effects a further aim of this study is to identify the underlying mechanism. Two possibilities are supposed: a) An increase of the variables of interest due to health-related information or b) a decrease due to externalization.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sandra K Hamann, Dipl.-Psych.; Phone Number: (+49) 6131 - 3939 214; Email: sahamann@uni-mainz.de

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Pathological health anxiety according to the criteria of Fink et al. (2004)
• Informed consent
• Sufficient German language skills
• Sufficient skills using a computer, a smartphone and the internet

Exclusion Criteria:

• Suicidal tendency
• Clinical diagnosis of alcohol or drug abuse, acute schizophrenia
• Organic brain disorders
• Impairment of intelligence

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Searching condition; To simulate participants' natural behavior they are requested to search online for personally relevant health or illness information in their usual manner. By doing so their attentional focus lies on the searching process and the information they obtain.	Behavioral: Health- and illness-related internet use
No Intervention: Waiting condition (i.e. non- searching, no distraction); Participants are requested to do nothing and not to distract themselves by reading or using their smartphone for instance. By doing so, it is expected that their attentional focus lies on their induced worries and symptoms.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change of health anxiety before and after 8 minutes of health-related internet searching or waiting	self-created item	right before and after 8 minutes of health-related internet searching or waiting
Change of positive and negative affect before and after 8 minutes of health-related internet searching or waiting	Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule - State (PANAS-State)	right before and after 8 minutes of health-related internet searching or waiting
Change of symptom severity before and after 8 minutes of health-related internet searching or waiting	Checklist for symptoms in daily life (CSD)	right before and after 8 minutes of health-related internet searching or waiting

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change of health anxiety before and after 10 minutes of anxiety induction	self-created item	right before and after 10 minutes of anxiety induction
Change of positive and negative affect before and after 10 minutes of anxiety induction	Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule - State (PANAS-State)	right before and after 10 minutes of anxiety induction
Change of symptom severity before and after 10 minutes of anxiety induction	Checklist for symptoms in daily life (CSD)	right before and after 10 minutes of anxiety induction

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
• Collaborators: University of Cologne
• Investigators: Study Chair: Michael Witthoeft, Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Experimental Psychopathology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Related Info

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Primary Completion (Anticipated): September 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 5, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 16, 2017
• First Posted (Estimate): January 19, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 19, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 16, 2017
• Last Verified: January 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Cyberchondria; health-related internet use; pathological health anxiety
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Somatoform Disorders; Hypochondriasis
• Other Study ID Numbers: C1-L