Digital Media Usage Behavior and Its Impact on the Physician-Patient Relationship: Cross-Sectional Study Among Individuals Affected by Psoriasis in Germany

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder with a high burden of disease. People affected with psoriasis increasingly usethe internet for health-related reasons, especially those with younger age, higher education, and higher disease severity. Despiteadvantages such as enhancing the individuals'knowledge with the use of digital media for health-related issues, disadvantageswere also present such as quality control, and variability in the individuals'health information literacy. While patients withpsoriasis within medical settings generally trust physicians over digital media, they commonly withhold their web-based researchfindings from health care providers.Objective: The study aims to (1) identify further factors associated with regular psoriasis-related internet use, (2) rank specificdigital media platforms used, and (3) examine digital media within the physician-patient relationship among individuals with andwithout dermatological treatment.Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among individuals with self-reported psoriasis in Germanybetween September 2021 and February 2022. Participants were recruited via digital media platforms and in person at a UniversityHospital Department of Dermatology in southern Germany. The questionnaire asked about demographic and medical information,individual psoriasis-related digital media use, and the impact of digital media on the physician-patient relationship. Data wereanalyzed descriptively, and logistic regression models were performed to assess the factors associated with regular psoriasis-relatedinternet use.Results: Among 321 individuals with a median age of 53 (IQR 41-61) years (nonnormally distributed; females: 195/321), femalesex, shorter disease duration, moderate mental burden of disease, and good self-assessed psoriasis-related knowledge wereassociated with regular psoriasis-related internet use. Of the 188 participants with a mean age of 51.2 (SD 13.9) years (normallydistributed) who used digital media 106 (56.4%) usually searched for information on psoriasis-based websites and 98 (52.1%)on search engines, primarily for obtaining information about the disease and therapy options, while social media were lessfrequently used (49/188, 26.1%). Nearly two-thirds of internet users (125/188) claimed that their physicians did not recommenddigital media platforms. About 44% (82/188) of the individuals reported to seek for additional information due to the insufficientinformation provided by their physician.Conclusions: This study revealed the importance of digital media in the context of psoriasis, especially among women, individualswith shorter disease duration, and moderate mental disease severity. The lack of physicians'digital media recommendationsdespite their patients'desire to receive such and being more involved in health-related decisions seems to be a shortcoming withinthe physician-patient relationships. Physicians should guide their patients on digital media by recommending platforms withevidence-based information, thereby potentially creating an adequate framework for shared decision-making. Future researcshould focus on strategies to prevent the spread of false information on digital media and address the needs of patients andphysicians to enhance health-related digital media offerings