An Integrated Perspective on Factors Influencing Online Health-Information Seeking Behaviours
Type of content
UC permalink
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
Authors
Abstract
Today medical practice has turned to the development of online health systems and models aimed at helping people to become more independent in managing their well-being and care. Healthinformation seeking is a key aspect of these new models of engagement, yet studies show there is a decline in health-seeking behaviour (HISB). Focusing on online channels, this research-in-progress paper brings together theoretical insights from the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action and prior work on information channel characteristics to identify key drivers of online healthinformation seeking. The paper reports the preliminary results of model assessment using data collected from 94 respondents. The results contribute to current understanding of what motivates online HISB and the relative importance of these factors in motivating seeking behaviour.