Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 15, 2021
Date Accepted: Mar 6, 2022
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Laypeople’s Online Health Information Search Strategy and Utilization for Health-Related Problems: Cross-Sectional Survey
ABSTRACT
Background:
With the increase of utilizing the Internet to search health information for health-related problems, there is a necessary for health care professionals to better understand how their patients search and utilize the online health information which may influence their medical decision-making.
Objective:
The purposes of this study were to explore laypeople’s online health information search strategies and examine the relations between their search strategies and utilization behavior of online health information.
Methods:
Two scales namely “match” and “elaboration” were utilized to measure patients’ basic search strategy (i.e., simple approach) and advanced search strategy (i.e., metacognitive and integrative approach), respectively. In addition, the “consultation” scale was employed to evaluate participants’ utilization of online health information to consult doctors and others. A total sample of 253 outpatients without university education were purposely selected and surveyed. The participants were outpatients at a university-affiliated teaching hospital. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with structural equation modeling (SEM) to validate the instruments. In addition, the hierarchical regression analysis was employed to examine the correlations between variables and execute the interaction and curvilinear analysis.
Results:
The results of regression analysis showed both elaboration search strategy (ꞵ = 0.61, p < 0.001) and match strategy (ꞵ = 0.29, p < 0.001) were positively correlated to consultation on online health information with doctors and others. In addition, the interaction and curvilinear analyses indicated that there were significant interaction effect between elaboration and match on consultation (ꞵ = -0.34, p < 0.001) and significant curvilinear relationship between match and consultation (ꞵ = -0.12, p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Increasing patients’ exposure to online health information through both simple search approach (i.e., match strategy) and complex search approach (i.e., elaboration strategy) may lead them to appropriately utilize the information to consult doctors and others. However, the elaboration approach was more recommended rather than match approach since the former may result in more desirable utilization behavior of online health information. The results of this study may help healthcare professionals better understand how to communicate with their patients through the online health information.
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