International Journal of Computer and Information Technology (ISSN: 2279 – 0764) Volume 02– Issue 05, September 2013 www.ijcit.com 880 Identification of Trust Factor in Digital Health Information from the Internet among Clinic Attendees Muhamad Khairulnizam Zaini Faculty of Information Management Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, Malaysia Email: * shamsul {at} salam.uitm.edu.my Shamsul Kamal Wan Fakeh * , Mohd Sazili Shahibi, Wan Ab Kadir Wan Dollah, Zaharuddin Ibrahim, Mohd Jailani Paiman Faculty of Information Management Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, Malaysia Abstract—Quality and authenticity of the digital information have always been major concerns for health and information professionals. Specifically, digital health information offered directly to the users much more exceptional concerns, in which users are prone to use faulty health information within non-healthy environment (the internet) without professionals help and guidance. This study seeks to find out what are the trusted characteristics of good digital health information which is important for the users and the providers, and what are the factors that people consider in trusting and distrusting digital health information over the Internet. The paper starts with a brief review of related studies and in the following we described the survey that has been conducted. We then present the data collected and our analysis. Finally, we conclude with a list of information elements that health websites must provide in order to gain the trust of users on digital health information Keywords-health information, trust, information and content elements, security elements, privacy elements, health websites I. INTRODUCTION The environment in which patients consume medical and health information has changed dramatically during the past decade. Rapid diffusion of internet technology within the public has placed a considerable amount of health information within reach of general consumer (Neuhaunser et al., 2003) .Traditionally, physicians have served a central gate keeping role in providing healthcare information and services to their patients (Arora, 2003). With detailed technical information on prevention and treatment options online, the communication dynamics between healthcare professionals and patients may be changing, and resulting in more shared decision making (Smith, 1997). Although the Malaysian government has allocated a considerable amount of budget in RMK10 for healthcare in terms of medical technologies and infrastructure (Utusan Malaysia, 2010), this is an overlooked area that needs to be explored. Thus, the current initiative that should be emphasized is, in what ways effective health information are disseminate through the Internet in order to improve the quality of healthcare. It is also unclear how healthcare professionals and public health advocates instill initial trust among the Internet users. As up to date, there is no specific guideline that has been created to guide the Internet users on how to evaluate and establish trust on digital health information. Thus, the main objective of this study is to investigate the key factors that enable local society to trust the internet as an important source of health information. This study will be using a quantitative component as an approach. The quantitative component will be a set of a questionnaire to be administered to patients in government health clinics, using multistage random sampling. This research is expected to produce a trust model in digital health information for healthcare professionals and a specific guideline for the mass population. These guidelines may be used by the Ministry of Health and other healthcare professionals in delivering digital health information both locally and internationally for the purpose of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. It is hoped that this noble initiative will enable the government to enhance the health of the general population by providing a more effective and trustworthy health information through the internet in the near future. II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Using Information Communication and Technology (ICT) for healthcare development has been initiated by Malaysian government through the Telehealth Flagship Application is among the agendas of the Multimedia Super Corridor Initiative (MSC) which started in 1996. Jai Mohan and Raja Razali (2004) mentioned that The Telehealth Flagship Application in MSC agenda consists of four sub applications, namely the Lifetime Health Plan (LHP), Mass Customized and Personal Health Information and Education (MCPHIE), Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Tele- consultation Application (TCA). The use of digital health information from the Internet has increased the awareness of public about certain diseases and indirectly developed health education and promoting self care (Kaplan and Brennan, 2001; Brennan, 1999). Furthermore, leveraging digital health information from the Internet also reduces the Internet users