Online Health Information Seeking: A Review and Meta-Analysis

Online health information, as an emerging field in health communication research, has attracted close attention from researchers. To identify major determinants of why individuals seek health information online, we conducted a meta-analysis that systematically accumulates the existing research findi...

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Veröffentlicht in:Health communication Jg. 36; H. 10; S. 1163 - 1175
Hauptverfasser: Wang, Xiaohui, Shi, Jingyuan, Kong, Hanxiao
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: England Routledge 24.08.2021
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Schlagworte:
Communication research
Communications technology
Credibility
Demography
Empirical analysis
Health
Health education
Health information
Information seeking behavior
Information sources
Information technology
Internet
Mental health
Meta-analysis
Psychosocial factors
Sampling
Sampling methods
ISSN:1041-0236, 1532-7027, 1532-7027
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Zusammenfassung:Online health information, as an emerging field in health communication research, has attracted close attention from researchers. To identify major determinants of why individuals seek health information online, we conducted a meta-analysis that systematically accumulates the existing research findings. To that end, by integrating three theories or models for examining information-seeking behavior, we developed a theoretical framework for the current meta-analysis that emphasizing psychosocial, instrumental, contextual, and demographic factors. By analyzing the effect sizes from 44 articles representing 54 empirical samples, we found that the quality, trustworthiness, and utility of online health information were the dominant predictors of seeking it and that instrumental factors were more important than psychological ones in determining whether individuals did so. Moreover, the development of information and communication technology, the sampling method, and the type of information sought significantly moderated pairwise relationships between determinants and seeking behavior, whereas culture did not. Herein, we discuss the theoretical implications of our findings as well as directions for future research.
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ObjectType-Evidence Based Healthcare-1
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ISSN:1041-0236
1532-7027
1532-7027
DOI:10.1080/10410236.2020.1748829