Modeling the online health information seeking process: Information channel selection among university students

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of individual and information characteristics on university students' information channel selection (that is, search engines, social question & answer sites, online health websites, and social networking sites) of online health information (OHI) for three different types of search tasks (factual, exploratory, and personal experience). Quantitative data were collected via an online questionnaire distributed to students on various postgraduate programs at a large UK university. In total, 291 responses were processed for descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis, and Poisson regression. Search engines are the most frequently used among the four channels of information discussed in this study. Credibility, ease of use, style, usefulness, and recommendation are the key factors influencing users' judgments of information characteristics (explaining over 62% of the variance). Poisson regression indicated that individuals' channel experience, age, student status, health status, and triangulation (comparing sources) as well as style, credibility, usefulness, and recommendation are substantive predictors for channel selection of OHI.

Where Do Online Games Fit into the Health Behaviour Ecology of Emerging Adults: A Scoping Review

“…Research often focused on exploring how EAs engage with these influences through digital media. For example, Goodyear, et al [ 48 ] and Sbaffi and Zhao [ 49 ] explored how EAs navigate official sources of information from government and health providers, as well as unofficial sources of information from peers, celebrities, and broader community social media posts. There were consistent findings that EAs are sophisticated consumers of health information online [ 48 , 50 ], suffer from exposure to the sophisticated digital presences of the food industry [ 51 , 52 ], and that government health messages are not tailored enough to influence EA behaviour [ 52 , 53 ].…”

The Correlation of Online Health Information Seeking Experience with the Health Related Quality of Life: A Cross-sectional Study among Iranian Female Students

“…Johnson et al (2015) found out that the youth with lower mental quality of life used the Internet more to gain health information [19]. Besides, studies have showed that adolescents with more health risk factors and those with worse health status, higher health literacy, and a chronic disease are more likely to use the Internet to search health information [20]. In this regard, a question has been remained as a main concern which is that whether the adolescents have sufficient ability to effectively search, evaluate and use the online health information in a way that it promotes their health [21,22].…”

Oral health practitioners’ knowledge, attitude, and awareness about coronavirus

“…At the same time, in such pandemic situations, dissemination of misinformation consisting of false information, inadequate information, opportunistic misinformation (intentional or unintentional), and even sometimes the expired information can be potentially hazardous and cause a threat to the public health. [ 22 ] Thus, despite the acceptable level of knowledge and awareness in this meta-analysis, policymakers need to pay enough attention to the ways for maintaining up to date the dentists' knowledge and keep them aware as well as informed about the best available evidence in the relevant topic. Furthermore, as the results of the present study demonstrate a satisfactory level of attitude, it is inevitable to suggest that the health-care attitude can positively affect the behaviors or dentists and oral health operators, and these practices in an outbreak condition like COVID-19 can greatly end to prevent, control, and overcome this disease or, in contrast, lead to worsening the situation.…”