The future state of patient engagement? Personal health information use, attitudes towards health, and health behavior

Abstract

The past decade has given rise to interest in the effects of health care information on personal well-being. However, investigations to-date typically centered on mass communication programs in health rather than on individuals’ psychosocial characteristics, agency, and behaviors associated with their engagement with this information. Considering this gap, we examined whether the availability of personal health information is associated with health prevention behaviors in the United States. Using multivariable path analysis and data from the 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey, we investigate whether the use of personal health information is associated with positive, preventative health behaviors (healthy eating, tobacco smoking, and exercise), and if this relationship is mediated by patient confidence in their ability to care for themselves and by their self-perceived health status. Findings indicate that the use of health information, at low levels, is important for improving patient attitudes regarding their health status and confidence in caring for themselves. Perceived health-status and patient confidence, in turn, are associated with preventative health behaviors. Notably, too much information does not necessarily result in positive health behaviors among patients. Organizations may wish to critically assess how much information they make readily available to the populations they serve.

Dietary supplement usage during pregnancy and lactation: role of online social capital and health information-seeking behaviour

“…According to the IMB model, information or motivation alone may not be sufficient to drive behaviour change; behavioural skills are needed as intervening determinants of behaviour change. Previous research has demonstrated that knowledgeable and motivated individuals who possess the relevant behavioural skills are more likely to put into practice the recommended guidelines and behaviours (Anderson et al, 2006;Hearld et al, 2019). In this study, in line with the IMB model, self-efficacy as a behavioural skill has been predicted to mediate the relationships between antecedent factors (online social capital and internet use for health information) and dietary supplement usage.…”

“…age, education level) and situational factors (e.g. social support, socio-economic status) (Hearld et al , 2019).…”

Increasing mobile health application usage among Generation Z members: evidence from the UTAUT model

“…Such criticism can be considered to be valid for a small subset of available m-health apps. Yet, based on the evidence from a wide range of studies (Hearld et al , 2019; Shapiro and Kamal, 2021; Tavares and Oliveira, 2016), it can be argued that mobile apps’ benefits for public health outweigh such concerns and m-health apps can provide tangible value in improving individual health and subsequently decrease the burden on health systems.…”

A community-based health–social partnership program for community-dwelling older adults: a hybrid effectiveness–implementation pilot study

“…Self-care can also increase their life satisfaction [ 8 ], well-being [ 9 ], quality of life [ 10 ], and, most importantly, ability to age in place [ 11 ]. However, self-care is easier said than done, especially for aged individuals who face barriers such as lack of medication and disease management knowledge, motivation and confidence in taking care of themselves, physical strength, and social support [ 12 , 13 ]. In addition, social determinants of health, such as low educational level, separation from a spouse, and advancing age may impair one’s ability to self-care since these factors affect a person’s capacity, opportunity, and engagement to make the healthy behavioral change [ 14 , 15 ].…”