17 Dec Celebrity Illness Drives Online Search: Robin Williams Effect
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Francesco Brigo, MD
Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences.
Section of Clinical Neurology. University of Verona.
Division of Neurology, “Franz Tappeiner” Hospital.
Merano (BZ), Italy
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Brigo: Millions of people surf the Internet every day as a source of health care information looking for materials about symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and their possible adverse effects, or diagnostic procedures. The increasing number of online searches conducted using popular Web search engines, such as Google, generates so-called ‘big data’. This data provides information about online health-related behavior. In this study, I found that the highest peak in Google search volumes related to the terms “Parkinson´s disease” since January 2004 was observed on 15th August 2014, the day after Robin Williams’ wife has revealed the late actor, who died of suicide on 11th August, was in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. I proposed to call the phenomenon of increased online searches for a certain disease driven by news of celebrities having that disease as “Robin Williams´ phenomenon”, in honor of the American actor.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Brigo: As shown by previous studies I conducted in epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, celebrity diagnosis can significantly influence public health behavior, leading to increased public interest in disease diagnosis or prevention. The marked increase in Google searches of the term “Parkinson´s disease” recorded after the news on Robin Williams´ disease further confirm this stereotyped online behavior for health-related terms. Celebrities who publicly announce their diagnosis might effectively promote awareness programs and increase public knowledge and reduce stigma related to diagnoses of several disorders.
These findings may be taken into account when planning public health measures aiming at improving the knowledge and attitudes of the general population towards a certain disease.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Brigo: Future research should evaluate whether and to what extent informative campaigns with high emotional impact or with famous people acting as “testimonials” effectively promote awareness programs and increase public knowledge related to certain diseases.
Citation:
Impact of news of celebrity illness on online search behavior: the ‘Robin Williams’s phenomenon’
Francesco Brigo
J Public Health first published online October 15, 2014 doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdu083
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Last Updated on December 17, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD