scholarly journals Finnish adolescents’ selection and assessment of health information sources

Author(s):  
Helena Känsäkoski ◽  
◽  
Noora Hirvonenis ◽  
Laura Palmgren-Neuvonen ◽  
Tuula Nygård ◽  
...  

Introduction. It is challenging for young people to determine who or what information sources they can trust in health issues. This study examines adolescents’ understanding of health, health information needs and credible health information sources and discusses the ways some information sources can be regarded as adolescents’ cognitive authorities in health matters. Methods. Thirty-seven Finnish secondary school students from fourteen to sixteen years were interviewed during a school health education project. Analysis. The data were transcribed verbatim and analysed qualitatively through open, axial and selective coding. Findings. Two broad categories of young people’s understanding of health and well-being were identified: a narrow disease-oriented view and a wider view including aspects of mental and social well-being. These views were connected with recognised health information needs, preferred health information sources and credibility evaluation. Conclusions. The interviewed young people found family members and health professionals to be the most credible information sources in health problems. Thus, they can be regarded as adolescents’ cognitive authorities who are likely to influence their opinions. In more general health information needs and in lifestyle issues, the range of the information sources was wider and credibility assessments were dependent on the subject.

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 680-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth E. Davis ◽  
Daniele D. Flannery

Although health information is important to the prevention of much illness, the health information needs of Puerto Rican women remain unaddressed, according to the results of this phenomenological study. Through audiotaped interviews, 21women evaluated various sources of health information. Analysis of the data revealed which health information sources they considered trustworthy and nontrustworthy. Health care providers were found to be one of the least helpful sources, as personal interactions were often hurried and inattentive to women’s needs. Yet, the women were able to present a vivid portrait of a culturally sensitive community environment conducive to the presentation of health information. Implications include the importance of including cultural values in any health information setting, as well as the importance of building cultural bridges between health educators and Puerto Rican women. More research is needed to examine community efforts to enhance health information sources for this population of women.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 992-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina A Clarke ◽  
Joi L Moore ◽  
Linsey M Steege ◽  
Richelle J Koopman ◽  
Jeffery L Belden ◽  
...  

To synthesize findings from previous studies assessing information needs of primary care patients on the Internet and other information sources in a primary care setting. A systematic review of studies was conducted with a comprehensive search in multiple databases including OVID MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Scopus. The most common information needs among patients were information about an illness or medical condition and treatment methods, while the most common information sources were the Internet and patients’ physicians. Overall, patients tend to prefer the Internet for the ease of access to information, while they trust their physicians more for their clinical expertise and experience. Barriers to information access via the Internet include the following: socio-demographic variables such as age, ethnicity, income, education, and occupation; information search skills; and reliability of health information. Conclusion: Further research is warranted to assess how to create accurate and reliable health information sources for both Internet and non-Internet users.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingzhong Xie ◽  
Jun Lai ◽  
Dongying Zhang

BACKGROUND Social media has become an important tool to implement risk communication in COVID-19 pandemic, and made health information can gain more exposure by re-posting. OBJECTIVE This paper attempts to identify the factors associated with re-posting of social media messages about health information METHODS Content analysis was applied to scrutinize 4396 Weibo posts that were posted by national and provincial public health agencies Weibo accounts and identified features of information sources and information features, and adopted Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) model to analyze the association between these features and the frequency of message being re-posted. RESULTS Results showed that the followers and the governmental level of information sources are correlated with increased message reposting. The information features, such as hashtags#, picture, video, emotional(!), and the usage of severity, reassurance, efficacy and action frame were associated with increased message reposting behaviors, while hyperlink and usage of uncertainty frame correlated with reduced message reposting behaviors. CONCLUSIONS The features of health information sources, structures , style and content should be paid close attention by health organizations and medical professionals to satisfy the public’s information needs and preferences, promote the public's health engagement. Suitable information systems designing, and health communication strategies making during different stages of the pandemic may improve public awareness of the COVID-19, alleviate negative emotions, promote preventive measures to curb the spread of the virus.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth St. Jean ◽  
Natalie Greene Taylor ◽  
Christie Kodama ◽  
Mega Subramaniam

As young people are increasingly turning to the Internet to meet their information needs, it is imperative to investigate their perceptions regarding various potential sources of health information. A series of card-sorting exercises were administered to new participants in an after-school programme (HackHealth) to find out which sources of health information these greater Washington DC metro area middle school students would turn to, which they would not and their reasons behind these judgements. The findings revealed that participants were very aware of the importance of trustworthiness when looking for health information and they valued both professional expertise based on formal education and expertise born of personal experience with a particular health condition. However, they also valued convenience, ease and speed, and sometimes sacrificed information quality. Some important implications of these findings for healthcare and information professionals are identified and suggestions for future research in this area are offered.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 320-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuelo Ntlotlang ◽  
Balulwami Grand

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of public libraries in the dissemination of health information in the southern part of Botswana, namely, Kgatleng and Kweneng districts. It also explored how these libraries market health information services to the community they serve. The study also used health information acquisition model to get an understanding on how public library users seek health information. Design/methodology/approach The survey research design was chosen for the study and purposive sampling procedure was used to obtain the sample size of the population. The sample size consisted of 120 respondents and six interviewees. Data were collected from both library staff and users using questionnaires and interviews. Findings The results of the study showed that public libraries are striving to provide accurate and useful health information to members of the community by collecting and availing both print and electronic health information sources. The findings further indicated that public libraries have marketing programmes that they use on raising awareness of health information to their clientele. The marketing programmes include outreach, library brochures/leaflets, newsletters and library exhibitions. The results of the study also showed that there were some challenges that hindered the library users to access and use health information (e.g. lack of appropriateness of information resources and limited number of health information sources). Originality/value For a better dissemination of health information, public libraries should establish working relationships with health agencies and communication organisations or media houses with the objective of cooperative developments of collections, referrals and shared training.


Author(s):  
Jayanthi Sureshbabu ◽  
Senthilvel Vasudevan ◽  
Priyanka Raj

Background: School health education programs provide a convenient platform for engaging the students in health promotion activities. Public health problems like mosquito borne diseases cannot be controlled without active participation of the community and students are a resourceful component of the community who can be encouraged to take up activities to control mosquito borne diseases in the community.Methods: School-based cross-sectional study was conducted in December 2010 to March 2011 among 508 school students selected at random from students studying in the eighth to tenth standard. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Totally 508 students were included in this study. The number of students unaware of the stages in the mosquito life cycle and the mosquito’s resting habits reduced from 420 (82.68%) to 19 (3.74%) and 103 (20.28%) to 13 (2.56%) respectively. The number of students with correct knowledge of the biting habits of the female mosquito and personal protection (PP) measures increased from 31.69% to 97.05% with statistically highly significant (p <0.0001) and 52.95% to 74.21% respectively.Conclusions: The present study suggested that the school health education program is effective in creating awareness and increasing the knowledge regarding mosquito borne diseases among school children and possibilities of successfully engaging the community at large in the fight against mosquito borne diseases. The need would be to sustain this activity and implement it in schools as part of the vector borne disease control programme.


Author(s):  
Katarzyna Borzucka-Sitkiewicz ◽  
Karina Leksy

School health education is supposed to be aimed at taking actions based on the concept of positive health and good well-being but its scope is extending due to socio – cultural changes. Nowadays virtual world is becoming a part of the social reality and is perceived as an important socialization factor. For this reason Internet use should be treated as one of the health education areas as it influences psychosocial health and wellbeing of individuals. The article presents the Polish educational system and the place of health education in core curriculum. This issues constitute a theoretical framework for reporting the findings of research, which were aimed at determining the behaviours of Polish pupils undertaken in virtual space. The main goal of the research was to establish the influence of these behaviours on physical and psychosocial health as well as wellbeing of respondents. A similar studies were conducted by Sonia Livingstone, Michał Klichowski and Maciej Tanaś. The research proved the strong engagement of pupils surveyed in all types of Internet activities, which had an impact on occurring disorders of many areas of functioning (e.g. back pains, visual problems, tiredness, anxiety, insomnia, learning difficulties, social problems). The findings justified the urgent need to include the issues regarding safe and healthy behaviours undertaken in cyber space in health education curriculum. In conclusion some guidelines for educational practice have been formulated.


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