Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Dec 30, 2025
Date Accepted: Jun 24, 2026
Tailored personas of online health information-seeking behaviors among men with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy: A qualitative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen deprivation therapy need to manage complex treatment side effects long-term outside the hospital. Seeking online health information has become a key approach for self-management. However, individual differences in patients significantly influence their online information-seeking behavior. A comprehensive understanding of these diverse behaviors is essential for developing tailored health information interventions.
Objective:
To explore the differences in online health information-seeking behavior among prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen deprivation therapy and construct patient personas to describe their unique challenges and information support needs.
Methods:
A qualitative descriptive study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Zhejiang Province, China, from July to October 2025. Purposeful sampling methods were employed to select patients who received androgen deprivation therapy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture participants’ online health information-seeking behavior. The content analysis method was employed to extract fact labels and construct classification dimensions. Patients were classified according to these dimensions, and patient personas were developed using images to visualize their information behavior personas.
Results:
A total of 20 eligible participants were recruited for the study. Four core dimensions were identified to construct the persona: motivation, information access preferences, barriers, and needs. The personas were categorized as follows: patients demonstrating proactive information management and high health literacy, patients exhibiting avoidant information seeking driven by latent anxiety, patients engaging in family–doctor mediated information seeking, and patients displaying dependent and passive information-seeking behavior.
Conclusions:
Online health information-seeking among prostate cancer patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy is highly heterogeneous. A persona-based approach provides a precise and practical framework for understanding these differences. It may also provide insights for designing more targeted, accessible, and patient-centered online health information support.
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