scholarly journals Oral Healthcare Information Seeking Behaviour of Pondicherry University Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (06) ◽  
pp. 345-352
Author(s):  
Haritha K ◽  
Chennupati K Ramaiah ◽  
Gulla Surya Prakash ◽  
Chennupati Deepti
Keyword(s):  
Oral Health ◽  
University Students ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Oral Diseases ◽  
Health Care Information ◽  
Healthcare Information ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviour

Oral health information provides knowledge about oral diseases and develops awareness among the public to implement preventive measures for oral related diseases. Oral health information (OHI) also needs support in terms of public health policy, education, the provision of professional monitoring and therapeutic interventions as and when necessary. In this context, a survey was conducted with the help of questionnaire to know the oral health information seeking behaviour of Pondicherry University students and those results are presented here. The study also assessed the various channels through which these students receive oral health information, identified their oral health information needs, awareness on oral health and preferred modes of delivering oral health information. The purpose of this study is to understand the importance of oral health to students and also to find out the role of Libraries and Information Centres (LICs) in providing the oral health information in Pondicherry. LICs should act as promoting agencies to deliver health care information to all the needy students. Dissemination of oral healthcare information can be made available in written, spoken or electronic form. The information could be available in the form of books, pamphlets, audio-visual or web-based forms and should be easily accessible to students and the general public.

Information seeking behaviour of parents and caregivers of children with mental illness in Tanzania

2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 567-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edda Tandi Lwoga ◽  
Neema Florence Mosha
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Parents And Caregivers

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to assess information needs and information seeking behaviour of parents and caregivers of children with mental illness at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Tanzania. The study mainly assessed the information needs of parents and caregivers of children with mental illness, their preferable sources of health information, and their constraints on information seeking. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a case study research design, where 168 structured questionnaires were distributed to parents and caregivers of children with mental illness at the Neurological Pediatrics Outpatient Clinic of KCMC. The rate of response was 89.3 per cent. Findings – The study found that health information needs of parents and caregivers were mainly associated with health care (for example, nutrition, treatment) and health education. Parents and caregivers of children with mental illness used the internet as the main source of information about their children's health, which was followed by printed books and television. Health information seeking behaviour appeared similar across gender categories, but there were differences on the use of print and electronic information sources according to age and level of education. The main factors that hindered access to health information included low level of education, lack of funds and health information illiteracy. Practical implications – The paper provides useful suggestions that would facilitate information seeking and use among parents and caregivers of children with mental illness in Tanzania and other countries with similar conditions. Originality/value – Previous studies on the topic are scanty and, therefore, the paper provides important insights into the information needs and information seeking behaviour of parents and caregivers of children with mental illness in a developing country setting.

scholarly journals Facing the Growing COVID-19 Infodemic: Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour of University Students in Slovenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8507
Author(s):  
Mitja Vrdelja ◽  
Sanja Vrbovšek ◽  
Vito Klopčič ◽  
Kevin Dadaczynski ◽  
Orkan Okan
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
University Students ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviour

The entire world is faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, which is also accompanied by an infodemic. This refers to the rapid spread of (accurate and false) information, mainly through internet usage increasing. Digital health literacy (DHL) is therefore important for addressing challenges related to online health information and services, as well as for navigation through the complex information landscape with huge amounts of different (and conflicting) information about COVID-19. The aim of this study is to examine the level of DHL in relation to COVID-19 in Slovenian university students and to determine online information-seeking behaviour in order to plan and prepare effective communication interventions for this sub-population. A cross-sectional survey, administered by an online questionnaire, was conducted to collect data on DHL. A total of 3621 students participated, of whom 70% were female and the average age was 22.65 years (SD = 4.65). Bivariate analyses were performed to assess the association of key characteristics with DHL. Overall, the results show that the level of DHL among students is sufficient. Most difficulties were reported in assessing the reliability of information (n = 1484, 49.3%). Approximately one third of the students (n = 847, 27.9%) reported having problems in finding information of their interest, and somewhat more (n = 900, 29.6%) reported difficulties in making a selection among all the information found. Students with a sufficient level of DHL are more likely to seek information through search engines and websites of official institutions, while students with a limited level of DHL more frequently reported using social media for health information searches. It is necessary to establish interventions for a systematic lift of the DHL and health literacy (HL) of all population groups.

Older Adults' Health Information Needs and the Effect of the Internet

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-19
Author(s):  
Jessica Hirth ◽  
Sara J. Czaja ◽  
Joseph Sharit
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Health Information Seeking ◽  
Healthcare Information ◽  
Internet Users

Internet-based health information may be particularly beneficial for older adults as this segment of the population is likely to need healthcare information and services and often experiences problems accessing needed services and care. In order to effectively design e-health tools for seniors it is important to understand their health information needs and factors that enhance or impede their ability to use the Internet. Another important issue is to determine if in fact health information needs are satisfied to a greater extent between Internet users and non-users. This study explored these issues using six focus groups comprised of 35 adults aged 50+ ( M = 69.71 years) with varying levels of Internet-based health information-seeking experience. Results indicated that the adults who used the Internet were quite satisfied with finding information from this source; however non-users were also quite satisfied with the more traditional sources that they rely on for health information.

scholarly journals Parents’ health information seeking behaviour – does the child’s health status play a role?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Baumann ◽  
Rebecca Jaks ◽  
Dominik Robin ◽  
Sibylle Juvalta ◽  
Julia Dratva
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviour ◽  
Health And Development ◽  
Search For Information

Abstract BackgroundDigital media are increasingly abundant and being used to seek health information. To date, very little is known about parental seeking behaviour for child health information outside of English-speaking and Nordic countries. Our study “Digital parental counsellors” examines how parents search for health information in digital media, print media and among personal contacts, distinguishing between the search for information about general child health and development and child’s acute illness, and comparing information seeking behaviour by disability status of the child.MethodsA questionnaire was sent to 2573 parents (response rate: 30%) to a population-based sample of parents with children aged 0–2 years (N = 769). We developed a frequency score of use of different information sources and conducted bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses to describe parental search behaviour and the association with child’s disability status.ResultsThe sample consists of 88% mothers (mean age: 35.7 years SD 4.33). Children’s mean age is 16 months (SD 7.1), 49% of the children are female and 6% have a disability. Parents use digital media significantly more frequently to search for information about general health and development questions than about an acute child’s illness (p < 0.001). In case of acute child’s illness, parents refer to their paediatrician, family members and other personal contacts significantly more frequently than other information sources (p < 0.001). The use of digital media and personal contacts does not significantly vary between parents with and without a disabled child, whereas the use of print media does (p < 0.02). Moreover, irrespective of disability, 45% of parents resort to the Internet prior to a paediatric visit and 27% after a visit when a visit did not answer all questions.ConclusionsDespite the high prevalence of digital media, personal contacts are still the most frequent health information resource for parents with young children. Parents combine all information resources (online, print, personal network) to improve their understanding or check the validity of information received regarding their child’s health. It is thus of utmost importance, that the increasingly accessed digital information parents search for is correct, understandable and addresses parent’s concerns.Trial registration:BASEC Req-2017-00817 (30 October 2017)

scholarly journals Share to Seek: The Effects of Disease Complexity on Health Information Seeking Behavior (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwag Alasmari ◽  
Lina Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Mixed Data ◽  
Disease Development ◽  
Health Information Seeking ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Types Of Information

BACKGROUND Online Questioning and Answering (Q&A) sites have emerged as an alternative source for serving individuals’ health information needs. Despite the amount of studies concerning the analysis of user-generated content in online Q&A sites, there is an insufficient understanding of the effect of disease complexity on information seeking needs, and the types of information shared, and little research have been devoted to questions that involve multimorbidity. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate online sharing of health information at different levels of disease complexity. In particular, this study gains a deep insight into the effect of disease complexity in terms of information seeking needs, types of information shared, and stages of disease development. METHODS We first selected a random sample of 400 questions from each site. The data cleaning resulted in a final set of 624 questions, 316 questions from Yahoo Answers and 308 from WebMD Answers. We used a mixed data approach, including qualitative content analysis followed by statistical quantitative analysis. RESULTS The analysis of variance One Way ANOVA showed significant differences in the disease complexity (single versus multimorbid disease questions) only on two information seeking needs: diagnosis (F1, 622 =5.08, p=0.00), and treatment (F1, 622 =4.82, p=0.00). There were also statistically significant differences between the two levels of disease complexity when considering the stages of disease development, the general health stage (F1,622 =48.02, p=0.00) and chronic stage (F1,622 =54.01, p=0.00). Moreover, our findings showed significant differences among the two types of disease complexity on all types of shared information, demographic information (F1,622 =32.24, p=0.00), medical all (F1,622 = 16.75, p=0.00), medical diagnosis (F1,622 =11.04, p=0.00), as well as treatment and prevention (F1,622 =14.55, p=0.00). CONCLUSIONS The findings present implications for designing online Q&A sites to better support health information seeking. Future experimental studies should be conducted to verify these findings and provide effective health information from Q&A sites. CLINICALTRIAL

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