Modelling trust formation in health information contexts

Abstract

This study explores trust formation in the context of health information. Trust as an interpersonal notion, when formed in a vulnerable state, is a response or belief about how the trusted will behave towards the trustor. This study focuses on the process of assessing the trustworthiness of information, in a dependency state of information need, through the identification of the many factors influencing this assessment. A set of propositions are developed to suggest the criteria by which trustworthiness is assessed as well as the factors that influence these judgements. The proposed model is tested in a large-scale survey using a trust inventory with factor analysis to explore the constructs of trust formation. Structural equation modelling is used to explore the relationship among the identified criteria and their influencing factors. The resulting framework contributes to the understanding of trust formation in digital information contexts on the criteria of usefulness and credibility and further research into the influencing factors is recommended.

A Revised Model of Trust in Internet-Based Health Information and Advice: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study (Preprint)

“…The relevance, quality, usefulness and accuracy of information are known determinants that the information content is trustworthy [36]. The presentation, ease of use and clarity of information are linked to perceptions of 'professionalism' that, again, underpin judgements of trust [37]; [4]; [38] and, finally, the beliefs about objectivity and impartiality of the source also ensure trust [15], [16].…”

A Novel Visual Recognition-basedAuthentication Model Using a Hybrid TrustTheme to Verify Provider Profilesfor Enhancing Information Assurancein Online Healthcare

“…Additionally, the previous trust computing models in OHI [12,19,37] have employed user-centric models for evaluating trust. These models have only been limited to covering trust constructs at the consumer and website levels [18,20]. Existing literature [11,14,33] argue that trust is a multi-dimensional entity and needs to be expanded to a broader context by considering trust inducing factors at the institutional level.…”

“…Most OHI trust related research [23,25,26] has traditionally accounted for only trustor-focused attributes. They have typically undermined or neglected the organizational trust antecedents like expert (or provider) profile, reputation, verification, familiarity and social identity [18,20]. Some researchers clearly make the point how perceived credentials of involved experts in OHI can make an impact on building trust in OHI [14,21,22].…”

“…The notion of trust can be attributed to a multi-dimensional, multidisciplinary concept with a complex interpersonal connotation and social context [11,12,14,20,23,37]. However, the OHI seeking and cyberchondriarelated trust issues have never been researched from the perspective of soft trust and hard trust components [40] as applicable in computing disciplines [27,34].…”

Exploring trust in online health information: a study of user experiences of patients.co.uk

“…Within e-health research, 'trust' has been talked about with respect to a given website to provide accurate information. 5 In this vein, Johnson et al 3 found that the assessment of the trustworthiness was not only influenced by factors relating to the information itself but may also be influenced by an assessment of the search engine or the website, as the provider of the information. This may further suggest that whilst we might assess online health information by its usefulness and its credibility, we will also form some judgement of the trustworthiness of the website.…”