Psychosocial Determinants of Cancer-Related Information Seeking Among Cancer Patients

This study explores the utility of using the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction as a framework for predicting cancer patients' intentions to seek information about their cancer from sources other than a physician, and to examine the relation between patients' baseline intentions to seek information and their actual seeking behavior at follow-up. Within 1 year of their diagnosis with colon, breast, or prostate cancer, 1,641 patients responded to a mailed questionnaire assessing intentions to seek cancer-related information from a source other than their doctor, as well as their attitudes, perceived normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control with respect to this behavior. In addition, the survey assessed their cancer-related information seeking. One year later, 1,049 of these patients responded to a follow-up survey assessing cancer-related information seeking during the previous year. Attitudes, perceived normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control were predictive of information-seeking intentions, although attitudes emerged as the primary predictor. Intentions to seek information, perceived normative pressure regarding information seeking, baseline information-seeking behavior, and being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer were predictive of actual information-seeking behavior at follow-up. Practical implications are discussed.     

Factors Influencing Medical Information Seeking Among African American Cancer Patients

Qualitative research methods were used to explore factors that may affect medical information seeking, treatment engagement, and emotional adjustment among African American cancer patients. Focus group findings suggest that an array of cultural and socioeconomic factors plays important roles in the behavior of African American cancer patients. Participants described a number of important barriers and facilitators of medical information seeking and treatment participation. Factors linked to the health care-related behaviors and adjustment of African American cancer patients included limited knowledge and misinformation about cancer, mistrust of the medical community, concerns about privacy, lack of insurance, religious beliefs, and emotional issues such as fear and stigma associated with seeking emotional support. Recommendations are made that may assist mental and physical health providers in improving patient information and mental and physical health outcomes of African American cancer patients.     

Looking Beyond the Internet: Examining Socioeconomic Inequalities in Cancer Information Seeking Among Cancer Patients

The gap in cancer information seeking between high-socioeconomic-status (high-SES) cancer patients and low-SES cancer patients deserves serious attention, considering the importance of information and knowledge in cancer control. We thus explored the association of SES, as measured by education, with cancer patients' overall cancer information seeking, and with seeking from each source (i.e., the Internet, mass media, medical sources, and nonmedical interpersonal sources) and across two topic categories (i.e., treatment, quality of life). We then asked whether the effect of education on treatment information seeking is reduced among those who are particularly motivated to control treatment choices. We conducted a survey with breast, prostate, and colon cancer patients diagnosed in 2005 (n?=?2,013), who were randomly drawn from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry in the fall of 2006. We found that education was more strongly associated with Internet use than with the use of other sources regardless of topics. Also, when information was sought from mass media, education had a greater association with treatment information seeking than with quality-of-life information seeking. Preference for active participation in treatment decision making, however, did not moderate the effect of education on treatment information seeking. The implications of these findings for public health research and cancer patient education were discussed.     

Internet Access and Online Cancer Information Seeking Among Latino Immigrants From Safety Net Clinics

Internet use is widespread, but little is known about Internet use for cancer information among Latinos, especially those who rely on safety net clinics. The authors investigated access to and intended use of the Internet for cancer information among low income, immigrant Latinos predominately from Central and South America. A cross-sectional study of 1,273 Latinos 21 years and older attending safety net clinics or health fairs was conducted from June 2007 to November 2008. The authors used logistic regression models to evaluate associations of age, acculturation, psychosocial factors and other covariates with Internet access and intended use of the Internet for cancer information among those with access. Of the sample, 44% reported Internet access. Higher information self-efficacy and greater trust in the Internet were independently associated with Internet access (p = .05 and p < .001, respectively). Among those with access, 53.8% reported they intended to seek cancer help online if they needed information. Those with younger age and higher acculturation, education and self-efficacy had higher odds of intended Internet use for cancer information, considering covariates. In addition, those with high (vs. low) perceived risk of cancer (OR = 1.76; 95% CI [1.14, 2.73]; p = .01) and higher levels of trust in online health information (OR = 1.47 per one-point increase; 95% [CI 1.19, 1.82]; p = .0004) were more likely to intend to seek cancer information online. These findings that Internet access is fairly high in the immigrant Latino population and that the Internet is a trusted source of cancer information suggest that the Internet may be a channel for cancer control interventions.     

Health Information Seeking Behavior Among College Students

Individuals have a wide range of resources when searching for health topics. The aim of this research was twofold: (1) to identify and assess the resources college students use when exercising health information seeking behavior (HISB); and (2) to examine perceptions and behaviors regarding adoption of online tools. A questionnaire was developed to assess HISB in a sample of college students. Items pertaining to HISB were adapted from a Health Information National Trends Survey with permission from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. During Spring 2018, 258 students in 9 sections of a personal health class at a public university in NJ completed the questionnaire. Students were most likely to often or always use the Internet for health information (n?=?74%) over other sources. Females were more likely to use the Internet for health information (p?=?.030), to consult a health or medical professional (p?=?.042) and to confirm the health information they find with a health or medical professional (p?=?.028). Females also reported spending significantly more time on social media (mean 4.96 h/day) compared to males (4.00 h/day, p?=?.041). Non-white students were significantly more likely to often use the Internet to find health information (p?=?.039), while white students reported spending significantly less time on the Internet (p?<?.001) and on social media (p?<?.001). Future research is needed to understand motivating factors for HISB, and to tailor interventions accordingly to assure that college students who exhibit HISB have appropriate levels of e-health literacy.     

Online Cancer Information Seeking: Applying and Extending the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking

This study applied the comprehensive model of information seeking (CMIS) to online cancer information and extended the model by incorporating an exogenous variable: interest in online health information exchange with health providers. A nationally representative sample from the Health Information National Trends Survey 4 Cycle 4 was analyzed to examine the extended CMIS in predicting online cancer information seeking. Findings from a structural equation model supported most of the hypotheses derived from the CMIS, as well as the extension of the model related to interest in online health information exchange. In particular, socioeconomic status, beliefs, and interest in online health information exchange predicted utility. Utility, in turn, predicted online cancer information seeking, as did information-carrier characteristics. An unexpected but important finding from the study was the significant, direct relationship between cancer worry and online cancer information seeking. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Health Care Information Seeking and Seniors: Determinants of Internet Use

While seniors are the most likely population segment to have chronic diseases, they are the least likely to seek information about health and diseases on the Internet. An understanding of factors that impact seniors’ usage of the Internet for health care information may provide them with tools needed to improve health. This research examined some of these factors as identified in the comprehensive model of information seeking to find that demographics, trust in health information websites, perceived usefulness of the Internet, and internal locus of control each significantly impact seniors’ use of the Internet to seek health information.     

Determinants of Contraceptive Acceptance Among Cambodian Abortion Patients

Although Cambodia's total fertility rate is declining, limited access to and use of contraceptives has meant that some women rely upon induced abortion, legal since 1997, to achieve their fertility intentions. This study identifies factors that facilitate acceptance of postabortion contraception among women using Cambodia's public health facilities. Data were collected in all of Cambodia's hospitals with obstetric and delivery services (n = 71) and a representative sample of 115 of its 887 health-care centers, and from women seeking induced abortion or with abortion complications who presented to selected facilities during a three-week period (n = 933). Weighted data from 316 women who reported not wanting to become pregnant within the next few months and who presented to facilities that provide postabortion contraceptives were analyzed for bivariate and multivariate associations. Approximately 42 percent of women accepted contraceptives at the conclusion of care. After controlling for individual and facility characteristics, women who presented at facilities where a nurse/midwife managed abortion services, where contraceptives and abortions were provided in the same room, and where a larger range of methods were offered had significantly higher odds of contraceptive acceptance following abortion care. Improving contraceptive counseling and training for midwives and physicians, increasing contraceptive choices, and promoting access to contraceptives on site may reduce Cambodian women's risk of unwanted pregnancy and, potentially, unsafe abortion.     

Health Information Seeking Among Singaporeans: Roles and Collective Contexts

This article seeks to contribute to the literature on health information seeking (HIS) by culturally locating the search for health information within the local contexts of everyday life in Singapore, and within the meaning-making processes that individuals participate in. Based on in-depth interviews with 100 participants selected through stratified sampling, it asks: How do Singaporeans make sense of HIS in the realm of their everyday lived experiences? The study contributes to the literature on the roles familial ties play in information gathering and sharing in a collective context. More importantly, these familial ties provide perspective on the ways in which culture spatio-temporally constitutes HIS. HIS is informed by familial role expectations in a collectivist context where filial piety and “respect for the elderly” are guiding anchors for behavior. Moreover, harmony and community well-being define societal roles and responsibilities of caregiving, directed broadly at communal care. These collective-oriented contexts therefore inform HIS.     

Examining the Relationships Between Resources and Online Health Information Seeking Among Patients With Chronic Diseases and Healthy People

The Internet is increasingly used as an important source of health and medical-related information for people with chronic diseases. It is recognized that online health information seeking (OHIS) is influenced by individuals’ multi-dimensional factors, such as demographics, socio-economic factors, perceptions of the Internet, and health conditions. This study applies the conservation of resource theory to examine relationships between various multi-dimensional factors, daily challenges, and OHIS depending on individuals’ health conditions. The data used in this study was taken from the U.S. Health Tracking Survey (2012). In this study, Internet users aged 18 and older were classified into patients (N = 518) and healthy people (N = 677) based on their health status related to chronic diseases. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between multi-dimensional factors (resources), self-rated health, and OHIS. Patients’ various resources (e.g., age, income, education, having a smartphone, and health tracking) significantly predicted their self-rated health and OHIS; in addition, self-rated health significantly mediated the relationships between focal resources and OHIS. However, the mediating effects of self-rated health were not found in healthy people.     

Cancer Information Scanning and Seeking in the General Population

The amount of cancer-related information available in the media and other sources continues to increase each year. We wondered how people make use of such content in making specific health decisions. We studied both the information they actively seek (“seeking”) and that which they encounter in a less purposive way (“scanning”) through a nationally representative survey of adults aged 40–70 years (n = 2,489) focused on information use around three prevention behaviors (dieting, fruit and vegetable consumption, and exercising) and three screening test behaviors (prostate-specific antigen, colonoscopy, mammogram). Overall, respondents reported a great deal of scanning and somewhat less seeking (on average 62% versus 28% for each behavior), and they used a range of sources including mass media, interpersonal conversations, and the Internet, alongside physicians. Seeking was predicted by female gender, age of 55–64 vs. 40–44, higher education, Black race and Hispanic ethnicity, and being married. Scanning was predicted by older age, female gender, and education. Respondents were fairly consistent in their place on a typology of scanning and seeking across behaviors. Seeking was associated with all six behaviors, and scanning was associated with three of six behaviors.     

Patterns and Determinants of Breast and Cervical Cancer Non-Screening Among Appalachian Women

Breast and cervical cancer account for nearly one-third of new cancer cases and one-sixth of cancer deaths. Cancer, the second leading cause of all deaths in the United States, will claim the lives of nearly 800,000 women this year, which is particularly unfortunate because effective modes of early detection could significantly reduce mortality from breast and cervical cancer. Researchers examined patterns of non-screening among Appalachian women. In-person interviews were conducted with 222 Appalachian women who fell outside of screening recommendations for timing of Pap tests and mammograms. These women, from six Appalachian counties, were participating in a group-randomized, multi-component trial aimed at increasing adherence to cancer screening recommendations. Results indicated that participants who were rarely or never screened for breast cancer were also likely to be rarely or never screened for cervical cancer. In addition, four key barriers were identified as independently and significantly associated with being rarely or never screened for both cervical and breast cancer. An improved understanding of cancer screening patterns plus the barriers underlying lack of screening may move researchers closer to developing effective interventions that facilitate women's use of screening.     

Behavioral Consequences of Conflict-Oriented Health News Coverage: The 2009 Mammography Guideline Controversy and Online Information Seeking

Building on channel complementarity theory and media-system dependency theory, this study explores the impact of conflict-oriented news coverage of health issues on information seeking online. Using Google search data as a measure of behavior, we demonstrate that controversial news coverage of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's November 2009 recommendations for changes in breast cancer screening guidelines strongly predicted the volume of same-day online searches for information about mammograms. We also found that this relationship did not exist 1 year prior to the coverage, during which mammography news coverage did not focus on the guideline controversy, suggesting that the controversy frame may have driven search behavior. We discuss the implications of these results for health communication scholars and practitioners.     

Gender and Illness Behavior Among Colorectal Cancer Patients

This study of 154 men and 152 women with cancer of the colon or rectum addresses the lag between the first recognition of symptoms and the securing of definitive diagnosis and treatment. Total treatment delay is divided into two categories: patient delay, or the lag between the patient's fust recognition of symptoms and first physician contact; diagnostic delay, or the lag between the patient's first physician contact and treatment. The results do not support the contention that women are more prone than men to respond to cancer symptoms; women in this sample are not more likely than men to recognize and respond to symptoms and seek care. The results suggest that, among patients with cancer of the rectum, women are more likely than men to delay in seeking care. Among patients with cancer of the colon, women are more likely than men to experience diagnostic delay.     

Information Needs,Seeking Behaviors,and Support Among Low-Income Expectant Women

Previous studies have consistently found associations between low income and infant health outcomes. Moreover, although health information-seeking is a maternal behavior related to improved health outcomes, little is known about the health information-seeking behaviors and information needs of low-income pregnant women. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the information needs, information-seeking behaviors, and perceived informational support of low-income pregnant women. Accordingly, the study recruited 63 expectant women enrolled in a subsidized prenatal care program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during two time periods: March–May 2011 and October–December 2011. Results indicated that participants relied heavily upon interpersonal sources of information, especially family and the father of the baby; rarely used the Internet for health-related information; and desired information beyond infant and maternal health, such as finding jobs and accessing community/government resources. Participants who used family members as primary sources of information also had significantly increased levels of perceived informational support and reduced uncertainty about pregnancy. Our findings have implications for the dissemination of pregnancy-related health information among low-income expectant women.     

Cancer Prevention Information Seeking: A Signal Detection Analysis of Data From the Cancer Information Service

Communication and health information seeking play a significant role in the promotion of cancer prevention behaviors, including screening. Data from a sample of information seekers who contacted the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service (CIS; N = 20,412) were split randomly into an exploratory and validation sample to conduct signal detection analysis predicting cancer prevention information seeking. Important predictors of seeking prevention information in the exploratory sample were type of information seeker, communication channel, age, and gender; these findings generally were confirmed in the validation sample. Our findings also reveal important information about the demographic characteristics and communication channel preferences of cancer prevention information seekers.     

青少年网络健康信息寻求行为及其与健康危险行为的相关性

目的 了解青少年学生通过网络搜寻健康信息的类别和相关影响因素,为进一步设计有针对性的健康教育方案提供依据.方法 随机整群抽取上海市2 577名高中学生进行问卷调查,了解中学生的上网行为和健康危险行为(吸烟、饮酒、不健康体重控制行为和两性亲密行为).结果 被调查对象上网较为普遍,平均每周上网时间为18.66 h,1/3以上对象的每周上网时间超过20 h;吸烟、饮酒和两性亲密接触的自我报告率分别为10.7%,21.6%和40.1%.通过网络搜寻健康信息的内容和频度与性别、上网时间长短、母亲受教育程度、平均每月零花钱和自觉学习成绩相关.具有健康危险行为的青少年比没有危险行为的青少年更多地利用网络搜寻相关行为信息.结论 青少年网络信息寻求行为受多种因素的综合影响,应当给予关注和理解.有必要探索利用网络等新兴通信技术手段作为健康教育的重要方式.