JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Approximately 42.5 million adults experienced mental illness in the United States while 173 million people experience a diagnosable psychiatric disorder in China. An increasing population of people tend to seek health information online and it is important to understand the factors associated with people’s mental health information seeking. Identifying factors associated with mental health information seeking may influence disease progression of potential patients.

Objective:

This study aimed to test the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) in China and the United States with a chronic disease, mental illness, and two additional factors: media use and cultural identity.

Methods:

Data were collected in both countries using the same online survey through a survey management program (Qualtrics). In China, the survey link was distributed by college teachers in their universities to their students and also on a leading social media site called Sina Weibo. In the United States, the data were collected in a college-wide survey pool in a large Northwestern university.

Results:

The final sample size was 235 for the Chinese sample and 241 for the US sample. The media use was significantly associated with mental health information seeking intentions in the Chinese sample (P<.001) and cultural identity was significantly associated with intentions in both samples (China: P=.02; US: P<.001). The extended PRISM has better model fit than the original PRISM.

Conclusions:

Cultural identity and media use should be considered when evaluating the process of mental health information seeking or designing interventions to address mental health information seeking.