scholarly journals Check (it) yourself before you wreck yourself: The benefits of online health information exposure on risk perception and intentions to protect oneself

2021 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 121098
Author(s):  
Danae Manika ◽  
Stephan Dickert ◽  
Linda L. Golden
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Information Exposure

scholarly journals Health Behavior Nudging Through Health Information Exposure and Information Search

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-126
Author(s):  
Jessie Chin ◽  
Ece Üreten ◽  
Catherine Burns
Keyword(s):  
Health Behavior ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Rare Disease ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Disease Association ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Information Exposure ◽  
Study Participants

As the Internet has become one of the dominant sources of health information, online health information plays an important role for patients to acquire health knowledge and regulate their health behavior (European Commission, 2014). Researchers suggested different ways to nudge public health behavior through environments and policies (Marteau et al., 2011); few studies had explored the potential to use online health information environment to nudge health behavior. While there was established evidence showing the individual differences in online health information search behavior across the lifespan (e.g., Chin et al., 2009; Sharit et al., 2008), the current study was to examine the nudging effects on health behavior through online health information exposure and search. An online mixed-factor-design experiment was conducted on 136 adults across the lifespan (Mean age=49.79, SD=16.00). We examined two kinds of nudging routes, (1) health information exposure (manipulated by the experimenters), and (2) health information search (decided by the participants), on two kinds of health behaviors varying in the costs of taking these health behaviors. Target health behaviors included, (1) self-related health behavior: participants were asked to take a break for doing a stretch (low cost) or a walk (high cost) after long sitting; (2) self-unrelated health behavior: participants were asked to have researchers to donate to the rare disease association through writing down the date (low cost) or a 100-word endorsement article (high cost). In the experiment, each participant was assigned to read four topics (3 articles under each topic) and answer the questions after each health topic. The questions varied in difficulties, which participants could decide to answer the questions based on their own knowledge, their memory from reading, or searching the answers online. To manipulate health information exposure, half of the participants were assigned to read the online articles related to the target health behaviors (such as the harms of long sitting and the target rare disease). Participants were not disclosed about the study goals at the beginning. They were not told that the study goal was to examine whether they took the target health behaviors or not, but to examine how adults learn from online health information. To measure the actions of target health behaviors, for the self-related health behavior, after roughly 40 minutes of the study, participants were requested to take a break for 10 minutes. For the self-unrelated health behavior, at the end of the study, participants were asked whether they would like to show their support to a rare disease association. The manipulations in the costs of health behaviors were assigned in counterbalanced order. Logistic regressions were used to examine the effects of nudging routes and costs of actions on two kinds of target health behaviors. Results suggested that mere information exposure did not affect the likelihood to take the target health behaviors regardless of its relatedness to self-interests or costs of actions. Further, for self-related health behavior, adults were more likely to take actions after a more deliberate engagement with the information - through information search. For health behavior that was unrelated to self-interests, participants were more likely to take actions after they searched the information about this rare disease and only when the costs of actions were low. This study has shown the potentials and limitations of health nudging in different health behaviors, and has its implications on designing effective health nudging strategies on different health behaviors.

A new tool for assessing the quality of online health information on the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Dobbins ◽  
Susannah Watson ◽  
Kristin Read ◽  
Kelly Graham ◽  
Reza Yousefi Nooraie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Optimal Aging

scholarly journals Perceived Efficiency Outcomes, Sources and Awareness of Online Health Information among the Elderly during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 8121
Author(s):  
Gizell Green ◽  
Riki Tesler ◽  
Cochava Sharon
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Health Information ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Safety Skills ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Information Efficiency ◽  
Online Sources

The Internet and social media are crucial platforms for health information. Factors such as the efficiency of online health information, the outcomes of seeking online health information and the awareness of reliable sources have become increasingly important for the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine differences between elderly individuals’ income above and below the average monthly wage in relation to their online health information efficiency and the outcomes of seeking online health information; to evaluate types of online information sources with online health information efficiency and the outcomes of seeking online health information; and to explore online health information efficiency as a mediator between health status and awareness of online sources. A cross-sectional study design was conducted with 336 elderly participants age 65 or older. The participants volunteered to complete a questionnaire. No differences were found between the two groups regarding efficiency in retrieving health information from official online health sites and Google. Perceived efficiency mediated health status and awareness of online sources. In these challenging times, it is important to provide a tailor-made education strategy plan for reliable sources of online health information for the elderly, in order to enhance their technology safety skills. It is also important to explore other mediating variables between health status and awareness of online sources.

scholarly journals Online health information-seeking behaviors and skills of Chinese college students

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dangui Zhang ◽  
Weixin Zhan ◽  
Chunwen Zheng ◽  
Jinsheng Zhang ◽  
Anqi Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Chinese College Students ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Bivariate Logistic Regression ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviors

Abstract Background Seeking online health information (OHI) has become a common practice globally. The information seekers could face health risks if they are not proficient in OHI literacy. The OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of Chinese college students, the largest proportion of college students in the world, are understudied. This study was aimed to describe OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of college students in Guangdong, China. Methods College students in the Guangdong province with OHI-seeking experience were invited via WeChat, QQ, and Sina Weibo using QR code posters and flyers for participation in this online anonymized questionnaire-based study. Data on demographics, OHI literacy, information resources, search approaches, and behaviors were collected. The relationship between perceived OHI literacy and high-risk behaviors was investigated by bivariate logistic regression analysis. Results Respondents were 1203 college students with a mean age of 20.6 years, females (60.2%), and undergraduates (97.2%). They sought health information via websites (20.3%), WeChat (2.6%), or both (77.1%). Baidu was the main search engine, and baike.baidu.com (80.3%), Zhihu.com (48.4%), and Zhidao.baidu.com (35.8%) were top three among 20 searched websites for information about self-care (80.7%), general health (79.5%), disease prevention (77.7%), self-medication (61.2%), family treatment (40.9%), drugs (37.7%), western medications (26.6%), hospitals (22.7%), physicians (21.4%), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (15.6%). Despite most respondents (78%) lacked confidence in the evidence quality and satisfaction with the results, only 32.4% further consulted doctors. Many (> 50%) would recommend the retrieved information to others. About 20% experienced hacking/Internet fraud. Cronbach’s alpha for the internal consistency of OHI literacy was 0.786. Bivariate logistic regression analysis showed that students who believed they can judge the evidence level of OHI were more likely to self-diagnose (OR = 2.2, 95%CI, 1.6–3.1) and look for drug usage (OR = 3.1, 95%CI, 1.9–5.0). Conclusions This study reveals Chinese college students’ heavy reliance on OHI to manage their own and others’ health without sufficient knowledge/skills to identify misinformation and disinformation. The apparent risky information-seeking behaviors of Chinese college students warrant the provision of regulated, accurate, and actionable health information; assurance of cybersecurity; and health information literacy promotion in colleges by concerned authorities.

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