scholarly journals Online Information-Seeking About Potential Breast Cancer Symptoms: Capturing Online Behavior With an Internet Browsing Tracking Tool

10.2196/12400 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. e12400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afrodita Marcu ◽  
Cecile Muller ◽  
Emma Ream ◽  
Katriina L Whitaker
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Online Behavior ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Online Information Seeking

scholarly journals Online Information-Seeking About Potential Breast Cancer Symptoms: Capturing Online Behavior With an Internet Browsing Tracking Tool (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afrodita Marcu ◽  
Cecile Muller ◽  
Emma Ream ◽  
Katriina L Whitaker
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Health Information Seeking ◽  
Cancer Symptoms ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Online Information Seeking

BACKGROUND People engage in health information-seeking online when experiencing unusual or unfamiliar bodily changes. It is not well understood how people consult the internet for health information after the onset of unfamiliar symptoms and before receiving a potential diagnosis and how online information-seeking can help people appraise their symptoms. This lack of evidence may be partly due to methodological limitations in capturing in real time the online information-seeking process. OBJECTIVE We explored women’s symptom attribution and online health information-seeking in response to a hypothetical and unfamiliar breast change suggestive of cancer (nipple rash). We also aimed to establish the feasibility of capturing in real time the online information-seeking process with a tool designed to track participant online searches and visited websites, the Vizzata browser tracker. METHODS An online survey was completed by 56 cancer-free women (mean age 60.34 [SD 7.73] years) responding to a scenario asking them to imagine noticing a red scaly rash on the nipple. Participants were asked to make symptom attributions when presented with the scenario (T1) and again after seeking information online (T2). The online tracking tool, embedded in the survey, was used to capture in real time participant search terms and accessed websites. RESULTS The tracking tool captured the search terms and accessed websites of most of the participants (46/56, 82%). For the rest (10/56, 18%), there was evidence of engagement in online information-seeking (eg, medical terminology and cancer attribution at T2) despite their searching activity not being recorded. A total of 25 participants considered cancer as a potential cause for the nipple rash at T1, yet only one of these used cancer as a search term. Most participants (40/46, 87%) used rash-related search terms, particularly nipple rash and rash on nipple. The majority (41/46, 89%) accessed websites containing breast cancer information, with the National Health Service webpage “Paget disease of the nipple” being the most visited one. At T2, after engaging in the internet search task, more participants attributed the nipple rash to breast cancer than at T1 (37/46, 66% vs 25/46, 45%), although a small number of participants (6/46) changed from making a cancer attribution at T1 to a noncancer one at T2. CONCLUSIONS Making a cancer attribution for an unfamiliar breast change did not necessarily translate into cancer-termed searches. Equally, not all internet searches led to a cancer attribution. The findings suggest that online information-seeking may not necessarily help women who experience unfamiliar breast cancer symptoms understand their condition. Despite some technical issues, this study showed that it is feasible to use an online browser tracking tool to capture in real time information-seeking about unfamiliar symptoms.

scholarly journals Online Information Seeking Behavior among Indonesian during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Sulistyawati Sulistyawati ◽  
Herman Yuliansyah ◽  
Surahma Asti Mulasari ◽  
Tri Wahyuni Sukesi
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Immunization Coverage ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Online Behavior ◽  
The Public ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Online Information Seeking

Background: The COVID-19 vaccination movement in Indonesia until mid-2021 has still not reached the expected number, which is less than 20% of the Indonesian population who receive the first dose of vaccine. Meanwhile, the government's target for accelerating herd immunity is to achieve immunization coverage of 70% by November 2021. Several issues have arisen regarding the public's reluctance to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, such as vaccine readiness, efficacy, conspiracy, halal issues, and the negative side of this vaccine. Aims: This study aims to assess the online behavior of the Indonesian community in seeking information related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: Google trends was used as a data source to see the public interest in several issues including COVID, vaccines, and government policies. Analysis: The analysis was carried out descriptively. Results: The results of this study indicate the movement over time of society towards several terminologies in line with events or the implementation of policies in Indonesia. Conclusion: This research contributes to surveillance of the public's information needs on the COVID-19 issue to avoid misinformation.

The Impact of a Highly Publicized Celebrity Suicide on Suicide-Related Online Information Seeking

Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Arendt ◽  
Sebastian Scherr
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Celebrity Suicide ◽  
Online Information Seeking ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Background: Research has already acknowledged the importance of the Internet in suicide prevention as search engines such as Google are increasingly used in seeking both helpful and harmful suicide-related information. Aims: We aimed to assess the impact of a highly publicized suicide by a Hollywood actor on suicide-related online information seeking. Method: We tested the impact of the highly publicized suicide of Robin Williams on volumes of suicide-related search queries. Results: Both harmful and helpful search terms increased immediately after the actor's suicide, with a substantial jump of harmful queries. Limitations: The study has limitations (e.g., possible validity threats of the query share measure, use of ambiguous search terms). Conclusion: Online suicide prevention efforts should try to increase online users' awareness of and motivation to seek help, for which Google's own helpline box could play an even more crucial role in the future.

The Relationship between Online Information Seeking Anxiety and English Reading Proficiency across Gender

2015 ◽  
pp. 449-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrak Rahimi ◽  
Zahra Bayat
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Information Searching ◽  
English Reading ◽  
Online Information Seeking ◽  
The Relationship

In this chapter the relationship between Iranian EFL learners' online information seeking anxiety and reading ability is investigated. The sample included 177 high-school students of an urban area in Iran. In order to measure their reading ability, the reading section of Primary English Test (PET) was used. To assess their online information searching anxiety, Information Seeking Anxiety scale (ISAS) was used. The results of the correlational analysis showed that there is a negative relationship between ISAS (and all its components) and PET. When male and female participants were considered separately, English reading was not found to be related to anxiety among boys; while it was moderately associated with anxiety among girls. The result of regression showed that EFL reading ability is a significant predictor of online information seeking anxiety and can predict more than 7% of the variance of online information searching anxiety; however the power of reading to reduce searching anxiety was found to be much stronger (more than 18%) among females.

Tips for Tracking Web Information Seeking Behavior

2011 ◽  
pp. 89-118
Author(s):  
Brian Detlor ◽  
Maureen Hupfer ◽  
Umar Ruhi
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Seeking Behavior ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Portal Site ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Web Information ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Online Information Seeking

This chapter provides various tips for practitioners and researchers who wish to track end-user Web information seeking behavior. These tips are derived in large part from the authors’ own experience of collecting and analyzing individual differences, task, and Web tracking data to investigate people’s online information seeking behaviors at a specific municipal community portal site (myhamilton.ca). The tips discussed in this chapter include: (1) the need to account for both task and individual differences in any Web information seeking behavior analysis; (2) how to collect Web metrics through deployment of a unique ID that links individual differences, task, and Web tracking data together; (3) the types of Web log metrics to collect; (4) how to go about collecting and making sense of such metrics; and (5) the importance of addressing privacy concerns at the start of any collection of Web tracking information.

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