The Role of Patient–Clinician Information Engagement and Information Seeking from Nonmedical Channels in Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Cancer Patients

Abstract

Previous research suggests positive effects of health information seeking on prevention behaviors such as diet, exercise and fruit and vegetable consumption. The current study builds upon this research, and strengthens causal claims from it, by examining the lagged effect of patient-clinician information engagement (PCIE) on fruit and vegetable consumption as well as the indirect effect on the outcome through seeking information from nonmedical channels. The results are based on data collected from a randomly drawn sample of breast, prostate and colorectal cancer patients from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry who completed mail surveys in the Fall of 2006 and 2007. There was a 65% response rate for baseline subjects (resulting n = 2,013); of those 1,293 were interviewed one year later and 1,257 were available for our analyses. Results show a positive lagged main effect of PCIE at baseline on fruit and vegetable consumption at follow-up (B = 0.26, SE = 0.10, p = 0.01). The mediation analysis shows that patient-clinician information engagement leads to increased fruit and vegetable consumption among cancer patients, in part through patients’ information seeking from non-medical channels. Implications of these findings for the cancer patient population and for physicians are discussed.

Are long-term cancer survivors and physicians discussing health promotion and healthy behaviors?

“…Although studies have shown that physician engagement in information exchange for lifestyle behaviors can effectively and positively change behavior [8,9], some groups of survivors in our study were less likely to report having health behavior discussions, particularly older survivors and those with low education. Older survivors were less likely to report having at least one discussion of health promotion, and also less likely to discuss strategies to improve health and diet compared to younger survivors.…”

“…Survivors fall short of meeting dietary and physical activity recommendations [5-7] and have high risk for comorbid conditions. Given previous studies' findings that provider-delivered information is effective for encouraging healthy behaviors [8,9], promoting healthy behavior habits and sharing information on how to maintain overall health and wellness is especially important for this population both the primary care and oncology setting [10]. …”

Cocreative customer practices: Effects of health care customer value cocreation practices on well-being

“…In a longitudinal study of cancer patients, health-related information-seeking through multiple sources, including friends and family, is found to positively influence diet, exercise, fruit and vegetable consumption, and a change in lifestyle behaviors (Moldovan-Johnson et al, 2014). Through social interaction, information obtained motivates further information-seeking behavior with subsequent positive health behaviors through support from social networks .…”

Exploration of information and support needs in relation to health concerns, diet and physical activity in colorectal cancer survivors

“…Given the effectiveness of practitioner‐delivered information for encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviours in cancer patients (Moldovan‐Johnson, Martinez, Lewis, Freres, & Hornik, ; Pinto, Papandonatos, & Goldstein, ), promoting health behaviour change in this population and providing information on how to improve health and lifestyle is important in oncology settings (Rock et al., ). Little is known about the information and support needs of patients who have completed active treatment for colorectal cancer and whether such patients receive advice on how to improve their health and lifestyle by the oncology team.…”