Health Information Seeking Behavior (original) (raw)
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Information management is an important component of coping with illness and illness-related uncertainty. Normative theory and research on information seeking and avoiding in health contexts can help explain why some information management activities are more adaptive than others. Challenges and dilemmas of information management include relational demands (e.g., the need to coordinate the behaviors and goals of the participants) and contextual features (e.g., cross-cultural considerations or channels available for information seeking and providing). Issues that need to be addressed in a normative approach include (a) how information management goals can be accomplished while still accounting for other goals (e.g., identity management or relational maintenance), (b)
Assessing the significance of health information seeking in chronic condition management
Patient Education and Counseling, 2017
To examine the relationship between health information seeking and confidence in performing self-management activities, and to assess the influence of predisposing, enabling, and perceive need factors on confidence to perform self-management activities among adults with chronic conditions. Methods: The sample included 6724 adults from the 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey who were 18 years with a chronic condition. Binary logistic regression examined the relationship between health information seeking, predisposing, enabling, and perceive need factors and confidence in performing three self-management activities; prevent symptoms, tell doctor concerns, and know when to get medical care. Results: Analyses indicated that 63.7% of adults sought health information. Rural residents who sought health information had 50% (95% CI: 0.28-0.89) lower odds of being confident to tell doctor concerns compared to urban residents who did not seek health information. Conclusion: The relationship between health information seeking and confidence to perform selfmanagement varies by self-management activity. Rurality, education level, having a usual source of care, and perceived health status strongly predict confidence to perform self-management activities. Practice implications: Self-management strategies should incorporate health information seeking behavior that will enhance confidence to perform specific self-management activities, and should incorporate predisposing, enabling, and perceive need factors.
Health Information–Seeking Behaviors, Health Indicators, and Health Risks
American Journal of Public Health, 2010
James B. Weaver, III originated the study and supervised all aspects of the preparation of the article. Darren Mays and Stephanie Sargent Weaver assisted with data analysis and interpretation and assumed a primary role in writing the article. All other authors conceptualized ideas, interpreted results, and reviewed drafts of the article.
Information Seeking and Avoiding in Health Contexts
Human Communication Research, 2002
Information management is an important component of coping with illness and illness-related uncertainty. Normative theory and research on information seeking and avoiding in health contexts can help explain why some information management activities are more adaptive than others. Challenges and dilemmas of information management include relational demands (e.g., the need to coordinate the behaviors and goals of the participants) and contextual features (e.g., cross-cultural considerations or channels available for information seeking and providing). Issues that need to be addressed in a normative approach include (a) how information management goals can be accomplished while still accounting for other goals (e.g., identity management or relational maintenance), (b)
First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my respectful supervisor-Prof. Shirly Ho-for her invaluable mentorship and guidance during my Master's journey at Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. I would never have completed this thesis without her patient guidance and constructive suggestions. Thank you for encouraging and believing in me whenever I felt stressed and self-doubted, as well as providing me with excellent research opportunities. I would also like to express my appreciation to my thesis committee members, Prof. Jung Younbo and Prof Kim Hye Kyung. I extremely appreciate their insightful suggestions and comments, which helped me polish my thesis substantially. I also want to extend my gratitude to Dr. Danmien Joseph, who taught me the research method of meta-analysis. I would never have completed this meta-analysis without participating in your course of meta-analysis. Besides, I would like to thank my mom and dad, who always support me unconditionally and respect my choice to pursue my Master's degree overseas. I also want to express my special thanks to boyfriend. Thank you for your unwavering emotional support. I am so happy to have you by my side. Last but not least, many thanks to my seniors and classmates for their companion and advice. Without you, my life in Singapore would not have been so fun and unforgettable.
Journal of Health Communication, 2014
Despite health care providers' best efforts, many cancer survivors have unmet informational and support needs. As a result, cancer survivors often have to meet these needs themselves, and how they approach this process is poorly understood. The authors aimed to validate and extend the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking to examine information-seeking behaviors across a variety of channels of information delivery and to explore the impact of health-related factors on levels of information seeking. The data of 459 cancer survivors were drawn from the National Cancer Institute's 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the associations among healthrelated factors, information-carrier factors, and information-seeking behavior. Results confirmed direct effects of direct experience, salience, and informationcarrier characteristics on information-carrier utility. However, the direct impact of demographics and beliefs on information-carrier utility was not confirmed, nor were the effects of information-carrier factors on information-seeking behavior. Contrary to expectations, salience had direct effect on informationseeking behavior and on information-carrier characteristics. These results show that understanding antecedents of information seeking will inform the development and implementation of systems of care that will help providers better meet cancer survivors' needs.
The Determinants and Consequences of Information Seeking Among Cancer Patients
Journal of Health Communication, 2003
This research was designed to examine information seeking behavior among cancer patients. We present a model which identifies the determinants and consequences of information seeking and, in turn, examines the effects of prior variables on four outcome variables: whether patients discussed with their physicians information that they received from other sources, whether the information they obtained helped them make decisions about treatment or care, whether the patient sought a second opinion about his / her diagnosis or treatment, and changes in self-reported stress levels from diagnosis to the time of interview. The model is estimated separately for three groups: patients who sought information from multiple sources including the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service, patients who sought information from multiple sources but did not call the Cancer Information Service, and patients who did not seek information other than from their physician(s). We discuss variables that have similar impacts on outcome variables in all three groups as well as variables that operate differently within the groups. The results indicate that the desire for information and the desire for involvement in medical care decisions are independent factors. Some patients have a strong desire for both information and involvement in making health care decisions. These patients actively seek involvement in their treatment plans. Other patients, however, want to be informed about their disease and treatment but prefer to delegate most decision-making to their physicians. Still other patients choose to delegate information gathering and decision making exclusively to their physicians. We discuss the implications of these results for both patients and providers.