HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: to study various types of health information seeking behaviour (HISB) among college students in Oman and to study the factors affecting students’ HISB and sources of health information (HI).
METHODS: Survey was conducted in six colleges in different governorates of Oman collected in 2014 and in 2016. English to Arabic translated questionnaires were used to collect data from undergraduate students. SPSS was used, descriptive statistics and chi-square tests at p<0.05 were done for data analysis.
RESULTS: Personal sickness (89% in 2014 and 88% in 2016) and family sickness (94% in 2014 & 92% in 2016) were the common factors affecting/initiating HISB. Health messages in print (65% in 2014 & 2016) & electronic media (62% in 2014 & 66% in 2016) are main initiating factors for seeking HI. Internet (89%), family members (85.8% in 2014 & 88.9% in 2016), experts-non doctors (82.8% in 2014 & 81.8% in 2016) & doctors/medics (75.7% in 2014, & 83.9% in 2016) were the common sources of HI. Whatsapp (51.6% in 2004 & 45.3% in 2016) and general websites (46.3% in 2014 & 48% in 2016) were the commonest media sources of HI. Gender and other demographic variable were not significantly associated (p>0.05) with HISB of students.
CONCLUSION: Personal/family sickness & media were the common factors affecting/initiating HISB. Majority of student are seeking HI from internet, family members, experts-non doctors & doctors/medics. Whatsapp and internet were the commonest media sources of HI. HISB needs to be documented for theorizing messages, developing social and health initiatives.
KEY WORDS: Health Education (MeSH), Health Literacy (MeSH), Health Information seeking behaviour (Non-MeSH), Health Communication (Non-MeSH), Health information(Non-MeSH),
Article Details
Work published in KMUJ is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online
(e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
References
Lambert D, Loiselle GC. Health Informa¬tion—Seeking Behavior. Qual Health Res 2017 October; 17(8): 1006-19.
Shaikh BT, Haran D, Hatcher J, Azam SI. Studying Health-Seeking Behaviours: Collecting Reliable Data, Conducting Comprehensive Analysis. J Biosoc Sci 2008 January; 40(1):53-68.
Berkman ND, Davis TC, McCormack L. Health Literacy: What is it? J Health Commun 2010; 15(2): 9-19.
Wynia K, Osborn Y. Health Literacy and Communication Quality in Health Care Organizations. J Health Commun 2010; 15(2): 102–15.
Gutierrez , Kindratt TB, Pagels P, Foster B, Gimpel NE. Health Literacy, Health In¬formation Seeking Behaviors and Internet Use Among Patients Attending a Private and Public Clinic in the Same Geographic Area. J Community Health 2014 February; 39(1):83-9.
Bernard O, Sakiru R. Socio-Cultural Determinants of Maternal Health Care Seeking Behaviour in Seme Side of Benin Republic. Afr J Soc Sci 2013; 3(1): 145-58.
Gavgani VZ, Qeisari E, Jafarabadi MA. Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB): A Study of a Developing Country. Libr Philos Pract (e Journal) 2013:902. [cited on Oct 20, 2016]. Available from URL: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=2169&contex¬t=libphilprac
Boume PA, Morris C, Charles CA, El¬demire-Shearer D, Kerr-Campbell MD, Crawford TV. Health Literacy And Health Seeking Behavior Among Older Men In A Middel-Income Nation. Patient Relat Outcome Meas 2010 Jul;1:39-49.
Ad Hoc Committee on Health Literacy for the Council on Scientific Affairs AMA. Health literacy: report of the Council on Scientific Affairs. J Am Med Assoc 1999 February 10; 281(6):552-57.
Parker R, Ratzan SC. Health literacy: a sec¬ond decade of distinction for Americans. J Health Commun 2010; 15(2): 20-33.
Baker W. The Meaning and the Measure of Health Literacy. J Gen Int Med 2006; 21(8):878–83.
Osborne H. Health Literacy from A to Z : Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message. 2nd ed. Wall Street: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2013.
Nielsen-Bohlman , Panzer M, Kindig DA. Health Literacy : A Prescription to End Confusion. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Medicine of the National Academics; 2004.
DeWalt A, Berkman D, Sheridan , Lohr N, Pignone P. Literacy and Health Outcomes : A Systematic Review of the Literature. J Gen Int Med 2004; 19(12):1228–39.
Paasche-Orlow MK, Wolf MS. Promot¬ing Health Literacy Research to Reduce Health Disparities. J Health Commun 2010; 15:34–41.
Feinberg I, Frijters J, Johnson-Lawernce V, Greenberg D, Nightingale E, Moodie C. Examining Associations between Health Information Seeking Behavior and Adult Education Status in the U.S.: An Analysis of the 2012 PIAAC Data. PLoS ONE 2016; 11(2): e0148751. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148751
Weiss BD. Health literacy and Patient Safety: Help Patients Understand. 2nd ed. Chicago: American Medical Association Foundation; 2002.
Oman News Agency. Muscat Daily. [Online].; 2015. [Cited on Oct 20, 2016]. Available from URL: http://www.mus¬catdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Youth-Con¬stitutes-30-percent-of-Omani-popula¬tion-4gkj.
Pálsdóttir A. Information Behaviour, Health Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Health Behaviour in Icelanders’ Everyday Life. Information Research. 2008; 13(1).
Johnson JD, Case DO. Health information seeking. 2012. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Hesse BW, Nelson DE, Kreps GL. Trust and sources of health information: the im¬pact of the internet and its implications for health care providers: Findings from the first health information national trends sur¬vey. Arch Int Med 2005; 165(22):2618-24.
Fox S. The Social Life of Health In¬formation, 2011. [cited on March 02, 2017]. Available from URL: http://www. pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/ Reports/2011/PIP_Social_Life_of_Health_ Info.pdf
Powell J, Clarke A. Internet informa¬tion-seeking in mental health. Br J Psychiat 2006; 189(3):273-7.
Adjei EA, Adams M, Humphrey- Ack¬umey SAY. Health Information Seeking Behaviour on the Internet in Ghana: A Survey of Graduate Students at Knust. Theses (M.Phil). University of Ghana, Department of Information Studies; 2015.
Eysenbach G, Powell J, Kuss O, Sa ER. Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the World Wide Web: a systematic review. J Am Med Assoc 2002;287(20):2691-700.
Cotten SR, Gupta SS. Characteristics of online and offline health information seek¬ers and factors that discriminate between them. Soc Sci Med 2004;59:1795–806.
Wagner TH, Baker LC, Bundorf MK, Sing¬er S. Use of the internet for health infor¬mation by the chronically ill. Prev Chronic Dis 2004;1:A13. Epub 2004 Sep 15.
Shuyler KS, Knight KM. What are patients seeking when they turn to the Internet? Qualitative content analysis of questions asked by visitors to an orthopaedics Web site. J Med Internet Res 2003;5:e24.
Al-Mandhari A, Al-Adawi S, Al-Zakwani I, Al-Shafaee M, Eloul L. Relatives’ Advice and Health Care-Seeking Behaviour in Oman. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J 2009;9(3):264-71.
Shubha HS. Relationship between Internet Use and Health Orientation: A Study among University Students. International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design 16 - 18 May 2015 Dubai – United Arab Emirates 338-48. [Cited on March 02, 2017]. Available from URL: http://www.cmdconf.net/2015/ pdf/32.pdf
Moorhead SA, Hazlett DE, Harrison L, Carroll JK, Irwin A, Hoving C. A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Re¬view of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communica¬tion. J Med Internet Res 2013;15(4):e85. doi:10.2196/jmir.1933.
Orizio G, Schulz P, Gasparotti C, Caimi L, Gelatti U. The world of e-patients: A content analysis of online social networks focusing on diseases. Telemed J E Health. 2010 Dec; 16(10):1060-6.
Welch V, Petkovic J, Pardo JP, Rader T, Tugwell P. Interactive social media interventions to promote health equity: an overview of reviews. Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2016 Apr;36(4):63- 75.
Reback CJ, Grant DL, Fletcher JB, Branson CM, Shoptaw S, Bowers JR, et al. Text messaging reduces HIV risk behaviors among methamphet¬amine-using men who have sex with men. AIDS Behav 2012 Oct;16(7):1993–2002. doi: 10.1007/s10461-012-0200-7
Free C, Whittaker R, Knight R, Abramsky T, Rodgers A, Roberts IG. Txt2stop: a pilot randomised controlled trial of mobile phone-based smoking cessation support. Tob Control 2009 Apr; 18(2):88-91.
Brusse C, Gardner K, McAullay D, Dowden M. Social Media and Mobile Apps for Health Promotion in Australian Indigenous Populations: Scoping Review. J Med Internet Res. 2014;16(12):e280. doi:10.2196/jmir.3614.
Hogue M-CB, Doran E, Henry DA (2012) A Prompt to the Web: The Media and Health Information Seeking Behaviour. PLoS ONE 7(4): e34314. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034314.