Explaining Online Information Seeking Behaviors in People With Different Health Statuses: German Representative Cross-sectional Survey

Publikationstyp:
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Metadaten:
Autoren
  • Elena Link
  • Eva Baumann
  • Christoph Klimmt
Autoren-URL
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=fis-test-1&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000740343500003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL
DOI
10.2196/25963
Externe Identifier
  • Clarivate Analytics Document Solution ID: YD3VH
  • PubMed Identifier: 34890348
ISSN
1438-8871
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
12
Zeitschrift
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
Schlüsselwörter
  • online health information seeking behavior
  • Planned Risk Information Seeking Model
  • health status
  • theory building
  • personal survey
Artikelnummer
ARTN e25963
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2021
Status
Published
Titel
Explaining Online Information Seeking Behaviors in People With Different Health Statuses: German Representative Cross-sectional Survey
Sub types
  • Article
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
23

Datenquelle: Web of Science (Lite)

Andere Metadatenquellen:
Abstract
<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Worldwide, the internet is an increasingly important channel for health information. Many theories have been applied in research on online health information seeking behaviors (HISBs), with each model integrating a different set of predictors; thus, a common understanding of the predictors of (online) HISB is still missing. Another shortcoming of the theories explaining (online) HISB is that most existing models, so far, focus on very specific health contexts such as cancer. Therefore, the assumptions of the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) as the latest integrative model are applied to study online HISB, because this model identifies the general cognitive and sociopsychological factors that explain health information seeking intention. We shift away from single diseases and explore cross-thematic patterns of online HISB intention and compare predictors concerning different health statuses as it can be assumed that groups of people perceiving themselves as ill or healthy will differ concerning their drivers of online HISB. Considering the specifics of online HISB and variation in individual context factors is key for the development of generalizable theories.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>The objective of our study was to contribute to the development of the concept of online HISB in 2 areas. First, this study aimed to explore individual-level predictors of individuals’ online HISB intention by applying the postulates of PRISM. Second, we compared relevant predictors of online HISB in groups of people with different health statuses to identify cross-thematic central patterns of online HISB.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Data from a representative sample of German internet users (n=822) served to explain online HISB intentions and influencing patterns in different groups of people. The applicability of the PRISM to online HISB intention was tested by structural equation modeling and multigroup comparison.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Our results revealed PRISM to be an effective framework for explaining online HISB intention. For online HISB, attitudes toward seeking health information online provided the most important explanatory power followed by risk perceptions and affective risk responses. The multigroup comparison revealed differences both regarding the explanatory power of the model and the relevance of predictors of online HISB. The online HISB intention could be better explained for people facing a health threat, suggesting that the predictors adopted from PRISM were more suitable to explain a problem-driven type of information-seeking behavior.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Our findings indicate that attitudes toward seeking health information online and risk perceptions are of central importance for online HISB across different health-conditional contexts. Predictors such as self-efficacy and perceived knowledge insufficiency play a context-dependent role—they are more influential when individuals are facing health threats and the search for health information is of higher personal relevance and urgency. These findings can be understood as the first step to develop a generalized theory of online HISB.</jats:p></jats:sec>
Autoren
  • Elena Link
  • Eva Baumann
  • Christoph Klimmt
DOI
10.2196/25963
eISSN
1438-8871
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
12
Zeitschrift
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Sprache
en
Online publication date
2021
Paginierung
e25963 - e25963
Status
Published online
Herausgeber
JMIR Publications Inc.
Herausgeber URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25963
Datum der Datenerfassung
2023
Titel
Explaining Online Information Seeking Behaviors in People With Different Health Statuses: German Representative Cross-sectional Survey
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
23

Datenquelle: Crossref

Abstract
<h4>Background</h4>Worldwide, the internet is an increasingly important channel for health information. Many theories have been applied in research on online health information seeking behaviors (HISBs), with each model integrating a different set of predictors; thus, a common understanding of the predictors of (online) HISB is still missing. Another shortcoming of the theories explaining (online) HISB is that most existing models, so far, focus on very specific health contexts such as cancer. Therefore, the assumptions of the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) as the latest integrative model are applied to study online HISB, because this model identifies the general cognitive and sociopsychological factors that explain health information seeking intention. We shift away from single diseases and explore cross-thematic patterns of online HISB intention and compare predictors concerning different health statuses as it can be assumed that groups of people perceiving themselves as ill or healthy will differ concerning their drivers of online HISB. Considering the specifics of online HISB and variation in individual context factors is key for the development of generalizable theories.<h4>Objective</h4>The objective of our study was to contribute to the development of the concept of online HISB in 2 areas. First, this study aimed to explore individual-level predictors of individuals' online HISB intention by applying the postulates of PRISM. Second, we compared relevant predictors of online HISB in groups of people with different health statuses to identify cross-thematic central patterns of online HISB.<h4>Methods</h4>Data from a representative sample of German internet users (n=822) served to explain online HISB intentions and influencing patterns in different groups of people. The applicability of the PRISM to online HISB intention was tested by structural equation modeling and multigroup comparison.<h4>Results</h4>Our results revealed PRISM to be an effective framework for explaining online HISB intention. For online HISB, attitudes toward seeking health information online provided the most important explanatory power followed by risk perceptions and affective risk responses. The multigroup comparison revealed differences both regarding the explanatory power of the model and the relevance of predictors of online HISB. The online HISB intention could be better explained for people facing a health threat, suggesting that the predictors adopted from PRISM were more suitable to explain a problem-driven type of information-seeking behavior.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our findings indicate that attitudes toward seeking health information online and risk perceptions are of central importance for online HISB across different health-conditional contexts. Predictors such as self-efficacy and perceived knowledge insufficiency play a context-dependent role-they are more influential when individuals are facing health threats and the search for health information is of higher personal relevance and urgency. These findings can be understood as the first step to develop a generalized theory of online HISB.
Addresses
  • Department of Journalism and Communication Research, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Hanover, Germany.
Autoren
  • Elena Link
  • Eva Baumann
  • Christoph Klimmt
DOI
10.2196/25963
eISSN
1438-8871
Externe Identifier
  • PubMed Identifier: 34890348
  • PubMed Central ID: PMC8709915
Open access
true
ISSN
1439-4456
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
12
Zeitschrift
Journal of medical Internet research
Schlüsselwörter
  • Humans
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Information Seeking Behavior
Sprache
eng
Medium
Electronic
Online publication date
2021
Open access status
Open Access
Paginierung
e25963
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2021
Status
Published
Publisher licence
CC BY
Datum der Datenerfassung
2021
Titel
Explaining Online Information Seeking Behaviors in People With Different Health Statuses: German Representative Cross-sectional Survey.
Sub types
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • research-article
  • Journal Article
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
23

Datenquelle: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Worldwide, the internet is an increasingly important channel for health information. Many theories have been applied in research on online health information seeking behaviors (HISBs), with each model integrating a different set of predictors; thus, a common understanding of the predictors of (online) HISB is still missing. Another shortcoming of the theories explaining (online) HISB is that most existing models, so far, focus on very specific health contexts such as cancer. Therefore, the assumptions of the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) as the latest integrative model are applied to study online HISB, because this model identifies the general cognitive and sociopsychological factors that explain health information seeking intention. We shift away from single diseases and explore cross-thematic patterns of online HISB intention and compare predictors concerning different health statuses as it can be assumed that groups of people perceiving themselves as ill or healthy will differ concerning their drivers of online HISB. Considering the specifics of online HISB and variation in individual context factors is key for the development of generalizable theories. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to contribute to the development of the concept of online HISB in 2 areas. First, this study aimed to explore individual-level predictors of individuals' online HISB intention by applying the postulates of PRISM. Second, we compared relevant predictors of online HISB in groups of people with different health statuses to identify cross-thematic central patterns of online HISB. METHODS: Data from a representative sample of German internet users (n=822) served to explain online HISB intentions and influencing patterns in different groups of people. The applicability of the PRISM to online HISB intention was tested by structural equation modeling and multigroup comparison. RESULTS: Our results revealed PRISM to be an effective framework for explaining online HISB intention. For online HISB, attitudes toward seeking health information online provided the most important explanatory power followed by risk perceptions and affective risk responses. The multigroup comparison revealed differences both regarding the explanatory power of the model and the relevance of predictors of online HISB. The online HISB intention could be better explained for people facing a health threat, suggesting that the predictors adopted from PRISM were more suitable to explain a problem-driven type of information-seeking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that attitudes toward seeking health information online and risk perceptions are of central importance for online HISB across different health-conditional contexts. Predictors such as self-efficacy and perceived knowledge insufficiency play a context-dependent role-they are more influential when individuals are facing health threats and the search for health information is of higher personal relevance and urgency. These findings can be understood as the first step to develop a generalized theory of online HISB.
Date of acceptance
2021
Autoren
  • Elena Link
  • Eva Baumann
  • Christoph Klimmt
Autoren-URL
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34890348
DOI
10.2196/25963
eISSN
1438-8871
Externe Identifier
  • PubMed Central ID: PMC8709915
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
12
Zeitschrift
J Med Internet Res
Schlüsselwörter
  • Planned Risk Information Seeking Model
  • health status
  • online health information seeking behavior
  • personal survey
  • theory building
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Humans
  • Information Seeking Behavior
Sprache
eng
Country
Canada
Paginierung
e25963
PII
v23i12e25963
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2021
Status
Published online
Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde
2021
Titel
Explaining Online Information Seeking Behaviors in People With Different Health Statuses: German Representative Cross-sectional Survey.
Sub types
  • Journal Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
23

Datenquelle: PubMed

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