Leveraging Symptom Search Data to Understand Disparities in US Mental Health Care: Demographic Analysis of Search Engine Trace Data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the United States, 1 out of every 3 people lives in a mental health professional shortage area. Shortage areas tend to be rural, have higher levels of poverty, and have poor mental health outcomes. Previous work has demonstrated that these poor outcomes may arise from interactions between a lack of resources and lack of recognition of mental illness by medical professionals.

Objective

We aimed to understand the differences in how people in shortage and nonshortage areas search for information about mental health on the web.

Methods

We analyzed search engine log data related to health from 2017-2021 and examined the differences in mental health search behavior between shortage and nonshortage areas. We analyzed several axes of difference, including shorta

SUBMITTER: Rochford B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9926343 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature