The internet overwhelms parents of cancer patients

The internet might be the great icon of the information age, but when it comes to parents learning about the cancers of their children, parents overwhelmingly prefer speaking with a trusted health professional.

According to findings published in the most recent issue of Sociology of Health and Illness and carried out by researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, parents of children with cancer:

-- find themselves in over their heads with all the information offered up on the internet.
-- uncertain about who to trust, a situation that creates anxiety
-- fearful of finding similar cases and reading about negative, worst-case scenarios.

The study was titled "The Devil You Know: Parental Online Information Seeking after a Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis."

Source: CancerTreatment.net