Health information-seeking behavior among hypothyroid patients at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Hypothyroidism causes considerable morbidity. Low knowledge coupled with inadequate health literacy may lead to poor prevention and management. This study aimed to assess health information-seeking behavior and hypothyroid knowledge among South Indian hypothyroid patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2013 in Saveetha Medical College, Chennai, India. Hundred clinically diagnosed hypothyroid patients >18 years were interviewed in a hospital using a 57-item questionnaire to gather information on their socio-demographics, self-reported disease history, hypothyroid-related knowledge, health information sources, health literacy and health information-seeking behavior. Hypothyroidism was assessed by free T3 and T4 levels. RESULTS: Mean age of participants was 38 years (SD=12) with median age of 39.5 years, majority of the participants being females (77%) and living in urban setting (52%). Mean free T3 level was 0.0137ng/dl (SD= 0.003) and mean free T4 was 0.7ng/dl (SD= 0.06). Ninety three percent of the participants received initial hypothyroidism education from their physicians at the time of diagnosis. Half of the participants had incorrect hypothyroidism-related knowledge; similar between both genders. Participants with inadequate health literacy had poor knowledge about the hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism-related health information was sought almost exclusively from health professionals, predominantly regarding treatment, linked to their faith in qualified medical assistance. Economic status primarily determined healthcare-seeking behavior. Marital status, education level, annual household income and health literacy were significantly associated with knowledge. CONCLUSION: Participants having higher educational qualification, higher annual household income and adequate health literacy had considerable knowledge about hypothyroidism. Developing multifactorial and tailored health education for patients with marginal or inadequate health literacy is needed. Exploring healthcare institutions as a medium for delivery of such education should be explored.

Factors Influencing Health Knowledge and Behaviors among the Elderly in Rural China

“…Other professions, such as the self-employed, and migrant-workers are few. This finding indicated that few elderly people have professional skills, and lack basic knowledge to perform other types of work [40]. In China, particularly in the rural areas, farmers comprise more than 70% of the population, and the majority of these farmers choose NCMS, because this type of insurance can provide them with the largest proportion of reimbursement.…”

Health information seeking behaviour: a concept analysis

“…In several studies, individuals sought health related information to fulfil a specific information need generated by a health concern or diagnosis. A few examples include sexual health concerns such as HIV/AIDS , concerns of cancer survivors (Blanch-Hartigan et al, 2014), travellers to the Caribbean worried about chikungunya disease (Omodior, Pennington-Gray, Holland, Thapa, & Kiousis, 2017) or diagnoses of hypothyroid diagnosis (Perumal, Prasad, Surapaneni, & Joshi, 2015) or cancer (Lambert et al, 2009a). Somewhat less attention was given to the amount of information sought.…”

“…Many of the studies that described aspects of the information dimension also included information about source preference. This is particularly common for research dedicated to source preference and information type (Ellis et al, 2012;Ghweeba et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2015;Perumal et al, 2015;Petty, 2012). For this reason, several articles fall into the category of studying aspects of both dimensions.…”

Medical Student’s Skills in Notifying Bad News Based on SPIKES Protocol

“…Due to the lack of training and often low experience, doctors are not sure about transferring bad news to patients 4 . Studies have also revealed that physicians and medical staff are the first and most reliable source of information from the patients 5 . The way the information was provided and conducted by the physician is of paramount importance to patients, and they may not be reluctant to the healing process due to the provided information, so physicians should be aware of the way of providing information and, in other words, they should manage the information.…”