Health Information Needs of Tuberculosis Patients in Lagos State, Nigeria

BACKGROUND Access to quality health information is essential for self-management after serious injuries such as spinal cord injury (SCI). OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to evaluate the role of a consumer website in addressing the information needs of persons and families with SCI, as well as its impact on their knowledge and behaviour. METHODS Persons with SCI and family members were recruited from 3 settings: an acute hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, and an SCI community organization to acquire perspectives from early after injury to the chronic stage. Participants were introduced to the Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence (SCIRE) Community website, which was an internet site developed to provide evidence-informed health information about SCI in everyday language. After using the SCIRE Community website for 4 weeks, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted to explore purposes of use, user experience, and impact on knowledge and behaviour. Interview transcripts were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. RESULTS The participants were 24 individuals (18 persons with SCI and 6 family members). Thirteen participants completed the study in a hospital setting and 11 participants in a community setting. We identified 3 main themes in the data: (1) ‘An internet tool to support and empower persons and families’ described the empowering nature of access to an independent information source which enabled persons and families with SCI to take a more active role in their care; (2) ‘an accessible source of credible information’ described how users valued easy to access content with oversight by experts (i.e., perceived to be trustworthy); and (3) ‘Opportunities to increase impact’ outlined suggestions on creating opportunities to engage with content through active learning strategies and community connections. CONCLUSIONS Persons and families with SCI valued having access to an independent online health information website, especially early after injury, as it helped to empower autonomy and facilitated better communication between persons and families and healthcare providers. Our study provides support for the value of internet-based health information as a supplementary tool for therapeutic education for persons and families with serious health conditions such as SCI.

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The Voices of Persons Living With Dementia: Exploring Their Information Needs to Live Well

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.195 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 60-60

Author(s):

Michelle Kimzey ◽

Ramona Baucham ◽

Chelsea Martin ◽

Carol Howe

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Health Information ◽

Information Needs ◽

Hybrid Approach ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Health Decisions ◽

People With Dementia ◽

Care Partners ◽

Diagnosis Of Dementia ◽

Services And Supports

Abstract There are unique challenges and considerations when receiving the diagnosis of dementia. There are interventions, services, and supports for people with dementia and their care partners, yet they are often unknown, disconnected, and may not be widely available or easily accessible. Health literacy was defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Using a descriptive qualitative design, the purpose of this study was to describe how persons living with dementia and their care partners obtain, understand, and use information to make health decisions to live well with dementia. The convenience sample consisted of 28 care partners and 15 people living with dementia participating in 6 separate focus groups. To illuminate findings, data was analyzed using a hybrid approach (deductive followed by inductive). Four themes emerged deductively as persons gain health literacy in dementia (access, understand, appraise, and understand). The notable finding is the trend at diagnosis where they first are “seeking the expert” ,and as they move from dependence and gain understanding they are “becoming the expert”, and finally as they apply information they are “acting as the expert” for themselves and others. Engaging them in research not only gave them a voice but more importantly it influenced the health information that will be developed and implemented by them. These findings suggest there is a wealth of knowledge to be gained by persons living with dementia and their care partners.

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Information needs of breast cancer patients and how educational status influence their information needs in Ghana

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science ◽

10.1177/0961000620981611 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 096100062098161

Author(s):

Benedicta Boadi ◽

George Tesilimi Banji ◽

Patrick Adzobu ◽

Stephen Okyere

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Health Information ◽

Information Literacy ◽

Information Needs ◽

Educational Status ◽

Health Facilities ◽

Military Hospital ◽

Specific Information ◽

Breast Cancer Patients

Health information literacy plays a critical role in self-management practices among patients living with chronic health conditions. However, there are limited studies on information needs among breast cancer patients in Ghana. This paper therefore investigated the information needs of women living with breast cancer in Ghana and how educational status influenced their information needs. The study was conducted in two health facilities in Accra, Ghana (37 Military Hospital and Sweden Ghana Medical Centre). A total of 75 breast cancer patients were conveniently selected from the two health facilities for the study. The instrument used to elicit relevant data for this study was a questionnaire using the survey design. Data was analysed descriptively. The findings of the study revealed that the information needs of the breast cancer patients investigated were centred mainly around treatment and management information and less around preventive information. The patients also ranked diagnostic information as their highest need, followed by physical care information, treatment information, psychosocial information and disease-specific information in that order. Patients with higher education reported higher information need on all the five domains compared to those with lower education. The study therefore recommended that management of health facilities make health information literacy an integral component of their treatment and management of breast cancer.

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Health information needs, sources, and barriers of primary care patients to achieve patient-centered care: A literature review

Health Informatics Journal ◽

10.1177/1460458215602939 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 992-1016 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Martina A Clarke ◽

Joi L Moore ◽

Linsey M Steege ◽

Richelle J Koopman ◽

Jeffery L Belden ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Health Information ◽

Information Search ◽

Information Needs ◽

Information Sources ◽

Medical Condition ◽

Information Access ◽

The Internet ◽

Common Information ◽

Primary Care Patients

To synthesize findings from previous studies assessing information needs of primary care patients on the Internet and other information sources in a primary care setting. A systematic review of studies was conducted with a comprehensive search in multiple databases including OVID MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Scopus. The most common information needs among patients were information about an illness or medical condition and treatment methods, while the most common information sources were the Internet and patients’ physicians. Overall, patients tend to prefer the Internet for the ease of access to information, while they trust their physicians more for their clinical expertise and experience. Barriers to information access via the Internet include the following: socio-demographic variables such as age, ethnicity, income, education, and occupation; information search skills; and reliability of health information. Conclusion: Further research is warranted to assess how to create accurate and reliable health information sources for both Internet and non-Internet users.

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Framing in Health Communication: Identifying the Factors That Influence the Re-posting of Social Media Messages during COVID-19 Outbreaks in China (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.30255 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jingzhong Xie ◽

Jun Lai ◽

Dongying Zhang

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Health Communication ◽

Health Information ◽

Information Needs ◽

Information Sources ◽

Negative Binomial ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Public Health Agencies ◽

Media Messages ◽

Action Frame

BACKGROUND Social media has become an important tool to implement risk communication in COVID-19 pandemic, and made health information can gain more exposure by re-posting. OBJECTIVE This paper attempts to identify the factors associated with re-posting of social media messages about health information METHODS Content analysis was applied to scrutinize 4396 Weibo posts that were posted by national and provincial public health agencies Weibo accounts and identified features of information sources and information features, and adopted Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) model to analyze the association between these features and the frequency of message being re-posted. RESULTS Results showed that the followers and the governmental level of information sources are correlated with increased message reposting. The information features, such as hashtags#, picture, video, emotional(!), and the usage of severity, reassurance, efficacy and action frame were associated with increased message reposting behaviors, while hyperlink and usage of uncertainty frame correlated with reduced message reposting behaviors. CONCLUSIONS The features of health information sources, structures , style and content should be paid close attention by health organizations and medical professionals to satisfy the public’s information needs and preferences, promote the public's health engagement. Suitable information systems designing, and health communication strategies making during different stages of the pandemic may improve public awareness of the COVID-19, alleviate negative emotions, promote preventive measures to curb the spread of the virus.

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Assessing the health information source perceptions of tweens using card-sorting exercises

Journal of Information Science ◽

10.1177/0165551516687728 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 148-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Beth St. Jean ◽

Natalie Greene Taylor ◽

Christie Kodama ◽

Mega Subramaniam

Keyword(s):

Health Information ◽

Information Needs ◽

Information Quality ◽

Formal Education ◽

Information Source ◽

After School ◽

Future Research ◽

Card Sorting ◽

School Students ◽

Sources Of Health Information

As young people are increasingly turning to the Internet to meet their information needs, it is imperative to investigate their perceptions regarding various potential sources of health information. A series of card-sorting exercises were administered to new participants in an after-school programme (HackHealth) to find out which sources of health information these greater Washington DC metro area middle school students would turn to, which they would not and their reasons behind these judgements. The findings revealed that participants were very aware of the importance of trustworthiness when looking for health information and they valued both professional expertise based on formal education and expertise born of personal experience with a particular health condition. However, they also valued convenience, ease and speed, and sometimes sacrificed information quality. Some important implications of these findings for healthcare and information professionals are identified and suggestions for future research in this area are offered.

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Issues in Teen Technology Use to Find Health Information

IASL Annual Conference Proceedings ◽

10.29173/iasl7812 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lesley S. J. Farmer

Keyword(s):

Health Information ◽

Technology Use ◽

Information Needs ◽

Social Situation ◽

Library Services ◽

Health Issues ◽

Digital Resources

Teens need and want information about health issues. Even though teens tend to prefer asking people for help, increasingly they access digital resources because of the Internet’s availability, affordability, and anonymity. Teen health information interests vary by age, gender, social situation, and motivation. This paper discusses several issues about how teens access and seek that information, how teens use technology for seeking health information, and offers recommendations to insure optimal library services to address health information needs of all teens.

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Using Text Messaging to Assess Adolescents' Health Information Needs: An Ecological Momentary Assessment

Journal of Medical Internet Research ◽

10.2196/jmir.2395 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. e54 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Rebecca Schnall ◽

Anastasia Okoniewski ◽

Victoria Tiase ◽

Alexander Low ◽

Martha Rodriguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Information ◽

Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽

Text Messaging ◽

Information Needs ◽

Ecological Momentary ◽

Momentary Assessment

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Multidimensional Feature Classification of the Health Information Needs of Patients With Hypertension in an Online Health Community Through Analysis of 1000 Patient Question Records: Observational Study

Journal of Medical Internet Research ◽

10.2196/17349 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (5) ◽

pp. e17349

Author(s):

Aijing Luo ◽

Zirui Xin ◽

Yifeng Yuan ◽

Tingxiao Wen ◽

Wenzhao Xie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Information ◽

Classification System ◽

Information Needs ◽

Service Providers ◽

Demographic Data ◽

Clinical Findings ◽

The Internet ◽

Good Doctor ◽

Web Based ◽

Symptoms And Signs

Background With the rapid development of online health communities, increasing numbers of patients and families are seeking health information on the internet. Objective This study aimed to discuss how to fully reveal the health information needs expressed by patients with hypertension in their questions in a web-based environment and how to use the internet to help patients with hypertension receive personalized health education. Methods This study randomly selected 1000 text records from the question data of patients with hypertension from 2008 to 2018 collected from Good Doctor Online and constructed a classification system through literature research and content analysis. This paper identified the background characteristics and questioning intention of each patient with hypertension based on the patient’s question and used co-occurrence network analysis and the k-means clustering method to explore the features of the health information needs of patients with hypertension. Results The classification system for the health information needs of patients with hypertension included the following nine dimensions: drugs (355 names), symptoms and signs (395 names), tests and examinations (545 names), demographic data (526 kinds), diseases (80 names), risk factors (37 names), emotions (43 kinds), lifestyles (6 kinds), and questions (49 kinds). There were several characteristics of the explored web-based health information needs of patients with hypertension. First, more than 49% of patients described features, such as drugs, symptoms and signs, tests and examinations, demographic data, and diseases. Second, patients with hypertension were most concerned about treatment (778/1000, 77.80%), followed by diagnosis (323/1000, 32.30%). Third, 65.80% (658/1000) of patients asked physicians several questions at the same time. Moreover, 28.30% (283/1000) of patients were very concerned about how to adjust the medication, and they asked other treatment-related questions at the same time, including drug side effects, whether to take the drugs, how to treat the disease, etc. Furthermore, 17.60% (176/1000) of patients consulted physicians about the causes of clinical findings, including the relationship between the clinical findings and a disease, the treatment of a disease, and medications and examinations. Fourth, by k-means clustering, the questioning intentions of patients with hypertension were classified into the following seven categories: “how to adjust medication,” “what to do,” “how to treat,” “phenomenon explanation,” “test and examination,” “disease diagnosis,” and “disease prognosis.” Conclusions In a web-based environment, the health information needs expressed by Chinese patients with hypertension to physicians are common and distinct, that is, patients with different background features ask relatively common questions to physicians. The classification system constructed in this study can provide guidance to health information service providers for the construction of web-based health resources, as well as guidance for patient education, which could help solve the problem of information asymmetry in communication between physicians and patients.

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