The first Expert Board Meeting was dedicated to the topic "Self-management of menopause with the help of digital solutions". Statistics in German-speaking countries show that "searching for health information" is one of the three most common online activities, along with "searching for information about goods and services" and "communicating by eMail" (source: www.statista.de).
When searching for health information, the topic of menopause is frequently requested. In addition, menopausal women express a high need for trustworthy, easily accessible and neutral information (Hajesmaeel-Gohari S et al., Vaccaro CM et al., Crawford SL).
Sabrina Baumgartner, MD, from the Inselspital Bern, presented the results of a mapping review whose goal was to summarize existing scientific literature on self-management in menopause using digital solutions. Twenty-nine publications were included in the literature review.
The majority were cross-sectional studies with qualitative assessments of menopause information websites (total: 13/29 studies) and non-randomized cohort studies (total: 10/29 studies) investigating the impact of digital menopause information services. The latter are mostly of commercial origin (e.g., pharmaceutical industry) without involvement of other stakeholders, which has a negative impact on trustworthiness from the patient's perspective.
On the other hand, information websites on menopause, initiated by non-profit organizations, were found to have a significantly higher information quality. Regarding the content, the readability level is often unsuitable for the target group, specifically too high. Furthermore, a lack of balance in the information and often also a lack of topicality of the information and thus incongruence with the current guidelines can be determined.
Positive results could be presented in scientific studies on digital menopause information offers regarding satisfaction and health literacy of the target group. In the cohort study by Saver et al., the treating physicians were also surveyed. Here it became apparent that the efficiency of consultations improved with well-informed patients, which also had a positive influence on the satisfaction of the physicians.
Despite the wide range of information available on the Internet, it can be concluded that few of the offerings meet the quality standards described above. The current solutions often come from a single, mostly commercial, sender.
The experts reported positive experiences in the use of information material (books, podcasts, handouts) in counseling menopausal women.
The Expert Board concluded that there is a need for menopause information websites with readability levels appropriate to the target audience, content that is evident, guideline-compliant, current, and from a multistakeholder sender. Scientific evidence on the effectiveness of such solutions is insufficient and should be part of future scientific projects.
