Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease

Background: This paper presents the opinions of Polish employees on how they think of and use the Internet in the context of health, including occupational health. The outcomes show the usefulness of this medium in the ongoing activities regarding health education and promotion in this target group....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Elżbieta Korzeniowska, Krzysztof Puchalski
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine 2014-02-01
Series:Medycyna Pracy
Subjects:
Online Access:http://medpr.imp.lodz.pl/Polscy-pracownicy-o-internecie-jako-zrodle-informacji-o-zdrowiu-i-chorobie,407,0,2.html
_version_ 1811240342109814784
author Elżbieta Korzeniowska
Krzysztof Puchalski
author_facet Elżbieta Korzeniowska
Krzysztof Puchalski
author_sort Elżbieta Korzeniowska
collection DOAJ
description Background: This paper presents the opinions of Polish employees on how they think of and use the Internet in the context of health, including occupational health. The outcomes show the usefulness of this medium in the ongoing activities regarding health education and promotion in this target group. Material and Methods: The analysis focuses on the empirical data from the first representative research on the working population in Poland, conducted in 2012 among 1012 respondents, using the structured interview method. Results: Employees believe that the Internet plays a positive role in helping employees stay healthy. They appreciate its importance as a tool to support people with similar health problems and the alternative source of information on health issues. Workers are mostly unhappy with information overload about health and difficulty in identifying the reliable ones. Significant number of employees expect the websites expert control and even perpetrators' punishment. Around half of the workers look for the needed information on the Internet and the same number get acquainted with it, if they come across it by chance. The study shows that there was a small employees' interest regarding data on occupational health hazards, how to counteract them and legal regulations on health at work. If it was a case though, they used the web. Employees expect greater use of the Internet in their workplaces regarding occupational health issues than ever before. Conclusions: It was found that there are necessary foundations to treat the Internet as an influencing tool in health education and promotion campaigns aimed at employees. Med Pr 2014;65(1):1–13
first_indexed 2024-04-12T13:18:37Z
format Article
id doaj.art-7070d7de72d644718aeddb55bcc320af
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 0465-5893
2353-1339
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T13:18:37Z
publishDate 2014-02-01
publisher Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine
record_format Article
series Medycyna Pracy
spelling doaj.art-7070d7de72d644718aeddb55bcc320af2022-12-22T03:31:36ZengNofer Institute of Occupational MedicineMedycyna Pracy0465-58932353-13392014-02-0165111310.13075/mp.5893.2014.014Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and diseaseElżbieta KorzeniowskaKrzysztof PuchalskiBackground: This paper presents the opinions of Polish employees on how they think of and use the Internet in the context of health, including occupational health. The outcomes show the usefulness of this medium in the ongoing activities regarding health education and promotion in this target group. Material and Methods: The analysis focuses on the empirical data from the first representative research on the working population in Poland, conducted in 2012 among 1012 respondents, using the structured interview method. Results: Employees believe that the Internet plays a positive role in helping employees stay healthy. They appreciate its importance as a tool to support people with similar health problems and the alternative source of information on health issues. Workers are mostly unhappy with information overload about health and difficulty in identifying the reliable ones. Significant number of employees expect the websites expert control and even perpetrators' punishment. Around half of the workers look for the needed information on the Internet and the same number get acquainted with it, if they come across it by chance. The study shows that there was a small employees' interest regarding data on occupational health hazards, how to counteract them and legal regulations on health at work. If it was a case though, they used the web. Employees expect greater use of the Internet in their workplaces regarding occupational health issues than ever before. Conclusions: It was found that there are necessary foundations to treat the Internet as an influencing tool in health education and promotion campaigns aimed at employees. Med Pr 2014;65(1):1–13http://medpr.imp.lodz.pl/Polscy-pracownicy-o-internecie-jako-zrodle-informacji-o-zdrowiu-i-chorobie,407,0,2.htmlInternethealth educationworkplace health promotion
spellingShingle Elżbieta Korzeniowska
Krzysztof Puchalski
Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease
Medycyna Pracy
Internet
health education
workplace health promotion
title Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease
title_full Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease
title_fullStr Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease
title_full_unstemmed Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease
title_short Polish employees on the Internet as a source of information about health and disease
title_sort polish employees on the internet as a source of information about health and disease
topic Internet
health education
workplace health promotion
url http://medpr.imp.lodz.pl/Polscy-pracownicy-o-internecie-jako-zrodle-informacji-o-zdrowiu-i-chorobie,407,0,2.html
work_keys_str_mv AT elzbietakorzeniowska polishemployeesontheinternetasasourceofinformationabouthealthanddisease
AT krzysztofpuchalski polishemployeesontheinternetasasourceofinformationabouthealthanddisease