Background: The internet is used for information related to health conditions, including low back pain (LBP), but most LBP websites provide inaccurate information. Few studies have investigated the effectiveness of internet resources in changing health literacy or treatment choices.
Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the MyBackPain website compared with unguided internet use on health literacy, choice of treatments, and clinical outcomes in people with LBP.
Methods: This was a pragmatic, web-based, participant- and assessor-blinded randomized trial of individuals with LBP stratified by duration. Participants were randomly allocated to have access to the evidence-based MyBackPain website, which was designed with input from consumers and expert consensus or unguided internet use. The coprimary outcomes were two dimensions of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (dimension 2: "having sufficient information to manage my health;" dimension 3: "actively managing my health;" converted to scores 1-100) at 3 months. Secondary outcomes included additional Health Literacy Questionnaire dimensions, quality of treatment choices, and clinical outcomes.
Results: A total of 453 participants were recruited, and 321 (70.9%) completed the primary outcomes. Access to MyBackPain was not superior to unguided internet use on primary outcomes (dimension 2: mean difference -0.87 units, 95% CI -3.56 to 1.82; dimension 3: mean difference -0.41 units, 95% CI -2.78 to 1.96). Between-group differences in other secondary outcomes had inconsistent directions and were unlikely to be clinically important, although a small improvement of unclear importance in the quality of stated treatment choices at 1 month was found (mean difference 0.93 units, 95% CI 0.03 to 1.84).
Conclusions: MyBackPain was not superior to unguided internet use for health literacy, but data suggest some short-term improvement in treatment choices. Future research should investigate if greater interactivity and engagement with the website may enhance its impact.
Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12617001292369; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372926.
International registered report identifier (irrid): RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027516.
Keywords: health literacy; internet resources; low back pain; randomized controlled trial.
©Paul William Hodges, Leanne Hall, Jenny Setchell, Simon French, Jessica Kasza, Kim Bennell, David Hunter, Bill Vicenzino, Samuel Crofts, Chris Dickson, Manuela Ferreira. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 15.06.2021.