Analysis of eHealth Search Perspectives Among Female College Students in the Health Professions Using Q Methodology

Abstract

BackgroundThe current “Millennial Generation” of college students majoring in the health professions has unprecedented access to the Internet. Although some research has been initiated among medical professionals to investigate the cognitive basis for health information searches on the Internet, little is known about Internet search practices among health and medical professional students.ObjectiveTo systematically identify health professional college student perspectives of personal eHealth search practices.MethodsQ methodology was used to examine subjective perspectives regarding personal eHealth search practices among allied health students majoring in a health education degree program. Thirteen (n = 13) undergraduate students were interviewed about their attitudes and experiences conducting eHealth searches. From the interviews, 36 statements were used in a structured ranking task to identify clusters and determine which specific perceptions of eHealth search practices discriminated students into different groups. Scores on an objective measure of eHealth literacy were used to help categorize participant perspectives.ResultsQ-technique factor analysis of the rankings identified 3 clusters of respondents with differing views on eHealth searches that generally coincided with participants’ objective eHealth literacy scores. The proficient resourceful students (pattern/structure coefficient range 0.56-0.80) described themselves as using multiple resources to obtain eHealth information, as opposed to simply relying on Internet search engines. The intermediate reluctant students (pattern/structure coefficient range 0.75-0.90) reported engaging only Internet search engines to locate eHealth information, citing undeveloped evaluation skills when considering sources of information located on the Internet. Both groups of advanced students reported not knowing how to use Boolean operators to conduct Internet health searches. The basic hubristic students (pattern/structure coefficient range 0.54-0.76) described themselves as independent procrastinators when searching for eHealth information. Interestingly, basic hubristic students represented the only cluster of participants to describe themselves as (1) having received instruction on using the Internet to conduct eHealth searches, and (2) possessing relative confidence when completing a search task.ConclusionsSubjective perspectives of eHealth search practices differed among students possessing different levels of eHealth literacy. These multiple perspectives present both challenges and opportunities for empowering college students in the health professions to use the Internet to obtain and appraise evidence-based health information using the Internet.

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“…In other words, a factor was labelled because it was evident in the rankings of the distinguishing items. The overall pattern of the statements helped to understand the views that discriminated the clusters of students (Stellefson, Hanik, Chaney, & Tennant, 2012). It should be noted that 18 of the students (46.1%) had Q-sorts that identified them as hesitant and limited computer access cooperators.…”

Measuring Actual eHealth Literacy Among Patients With Rheumatic Diseases: a Qualitative Analysis of Problems Encountered Using Health 1.0 and Health 2.0 Applications

“…Previous research has shown that a higher education does not guarantee better Internet skills [36,37] and other studies among higher educated populations confirm these results. For example, Hughes et al [38] showed that doctors often choose their search results based on navigational bias and a focus on what is known, and Stellefson et al [39] found that many health professional college students are rather unconfident when evaluating information from the Internet. Furthermore, a younger age and more Internet experience might enhance operational skills, but previous studies have found that strategic eHealth literacy problems are still frequently present among students who grew up using the Internet [16,17,19].…”

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