Clinical trial NCT03019705: An Examination of the Effects of Health-related Internet Use in Individuals With Pathological Health Anxiety Using Ambulatory Assessment
Official title: An Examination of the Effects of Health-related Internet Use in Individuals With Pathological Health Anxiety Using Ambulatory Assessment
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Health Anxiety
Keywords: Cyberchondria
health-related internet use
pathological health anxiety
ambulatory assessment
Lead sponsor: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Cologne
First posted: 2017-01-13
Enrollment: 40
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: individuals with pathological health anxiety

Brief summary: The purpose of the current explorative study is to examine the effects of health-related internet use in individuals with pathological health anxiety using ambulatory assessment. In a naturalistic setting participants answer over a seven-day period questionnaires about their health-related internet use and its effects on affect, health anxiety and symptom severity in their usual daily lives.

Detailed description: The internet is a popular method for obtaining information. Increasingly, it is also used to answer medical and health 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 observational study aims to investigate the effects of health-related internet use in individuals with pathological health anxiety in a naturalistic setting using ambulatory assessment. The variables of interest are monitored using time- and event-based sampling methods. Therefore, over a seven-day period participants answer seven times a day questionnaires on a mobile phone in their usual daily lives and additionally track the variables of interest in the moment the target behavior (health-related internet use) occurs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate these relations using ambulatory assessment and therefore additionally aims to investigate the feasibility of this study design in this specific field of research.

Eligibility criteria: 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 mobile phone and the internet

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change of health anxiety before and after health-related internet use
timeFrame: Time-based sampling: every day at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm during seven days
measure: Change of positive and negative affect before and after health-related internet use
timeFrame: Time-based sampling: every day at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm during seven days
measure: Change of symptom severity before and after health-related internet
timeFrame: Time-based sampling: every day at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm during seven days
measure: Change of health anxiety before and after health-related internet use
timeFrame: Event-based sampling: before and after every health-related internet use that is conducted during a seven-day-period
measure: Change of positive and negative affect before and after health-related internet use
timeFrame: Event-based sampling: before and after every health-related internet use that is conducted during a seven-day-period
measure: Change of symptom severity before and after health-related internet
timeFrame: Event-based sampling: before and after every health-related internet use that is conducted during a seven-day-period
Secondary outcomes:
measure: frequency of occurence of health-related internet use
timeFrame: during seven days
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Experimental Psychopathology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
name: Michael Witthoeft, Professor
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References: