“Google Didn’t Get a Medical Degree”: Understanding the Influence of Patient Online Health Information-Seeking on Shared Decision-Making

Patients are engaging in unprecedented levels of online health information-seeking (e.g., via TikTok, Google). Guided by shared decision-making (SDM) theorizing, this study illuminates health care workers' (HCWs) perspectives of patients' use of online health information in clinical encounters. We identify third-party health information (i.e., health information from beyond a clinical encounter) as a decision-making agent in the SDM process. Applying reflexive thematic analysis to analyze 17 interviews with HCWs, our findings revealed how online health information influences the SDM process by shifting perceptions of decision-making orientation and heightening patients' sense of agency. Our findings also reveal how HCWs navigate SDM when patients use online health information by praising the new-age information economy, promoting mediated health literacy to moderate patient health anxiety, and prioritizing and validating patients' lived experiences. We conclude by discussing implications for SDM and practical implications for HCWs.