The second Australian Child Health Poll has found that Dr Google is a popular source of information for Australian parents worried about their children’s health, but it is not one they trust.

Some of the key findings show that:

• More than 60 per cent of parents used websites, blogs and online forums to get child health information in the last six months – but a surprising 30 per cent did not trust them at all.
• The poll also found that nearly 50% of Australian parents report using a hospital, including Emergency departments, for health advice in the past six months.
• More parents reported using the school teacher and the pharmacist for child health advice than a paediatrician or telephone advice helpline.
• Alternative health therapists, social media and celebrities are among the sources most frequently reported as rarely or never used and not at all trusted by parents.
• General practitioners are the child health information source most commonly identified as used and trusted a lot by Australian parents, with 90% having used their GP for child health advice in the last six months and three out of four reporting they trust them a lot.

Director of the Australian Child Health Poll, paediatrician Dr Anthea Rhodes, said the survey had revealed a “trust deficit” as Australian parents try to navigate their way through a complex landscape of child health information.

“This poll shows us for the first time that Australian parents are using sources of child health information that they just don’t trust. This means that in seeking to better inform themselves about their kids’ health, parents may be consuming so much information that, ultimately, they become more worried and confused,” she said.

Read more at www.childhealthpoll.org.au