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Patients today have access to an increasing number of health resources to guide medical decision making, including specialist health care providers, the Internet, friends, and family members. No prior studies, to our knowledge, have comprehensively explored health information–seeking behavior (HISB) for patients being managed for shoulder pain. Our primary objective is to identify which health resources patients use and find helpful in a cohort of patients being either evaluated or managed for shoulder pain. With increased access to the Internet and its use, we also hope to quantify the extent of use of Internet resources and identify predictors of patient use. We interviewed a cohort of new and follow-up patients being surgically or nonoperatively managed for shoulder pain by a single fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon. All patients were administered a questionnaire to determine HISB, which evaluated the types of resources used and those deemed most helpful in guiding medical decision making. For patients using the Internet, specific websites were documented. Additional variables that were collected included age, gender, ethnicity, and highest education attained. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate predictors of Internet use. This study included 242 patients. A discussion with an orthopedic surgeon was reported to be the most informative for nonoperatively treated patients, first postoperative patients, and operative follow-up patients. Patients at the first postoperative visit reported YouTube as their preferred resource almost 4 times more than new patients (odds ratio [OR] 3.9, P =.015). Search engine use was significantly higher in patients at the first postoperative visit (OR 5.8, P =.004) and patients at subsequent surgical follow-up (OR 8.3, P =.001) compared with new patients. Having an undergraduate (OR 0.1, P =.037) or graduate degree (OR 0.03, P =.01) had a significant inverse association with difficulty of using Internet resources. Patients of Black race reported significantly higher rates of distrust for Internet resources than those of White race (OR 5.8, P <.001). This study highlights the patterns of HISB among patients with shoulder conditions. A face-to-face discussion with a physician or a shoulder surgeon was the most crucial resource for information compared to other resources. This study has also defined the preferred Internet resources for patients at different time points of care and the reasons for refraining from seeking health information on the Internet. Such findings can aid shoulder surgeons in understanding the optimal methods for delivering health information for different patient demographics and different phases of their care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated mobile phone utilization and health information-seeking behaviour among economics education students in selected Nigerian Universities in South-east Nigeria. Method: This cross-sectional study employed convenience sampling technique to study a sample of 300 economics education students across different levels of study. Data was collected using a questionnaire assessing students mobile phone utilization and health information-seeking behaviour. Frequency and percentage were used for analysis of data. Results: Results show that 40% of the students surveyed said they greatly use mobile phones for academic purposes and seeking of academic-related information. Others indicated using mobile phones moderately for these purposes. Also, 60% of the students said they greatly use mobile phones for social media communication and internet surfing for information related to their health. Recommendation: Feasible measures are required to assist these students to live a balanced life in terms of how they use mobile phones for academic and other non-academic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Online health information-seeking behaviors have been reported to be more common at the beginning of the workweek. This behavior pattern has been interpreted as a kind of "healthy new start" or "fresh start" due to regrets or attempts to compensate for unhealthy behavior or poor choices made during the weekend. However, the observations regarding the most common health information-seeking day were based only on the analyses of users' behaviors with websites on health or on online health-related searches. We wanted to confirm if this pattern could be found in searches of Wikipedia on health-related topics and also if this search pattern was unique to health-related topics or if it could represent a more general pattern of online information searching--which could be of relevance even beyond the health sector.Objective: The aim was to examine the degree to which the search pattern described previously was specific to health-related information seeking or whether similar patterns could be found in other types of information-seeking behavior.Methods: We extracted the number of searches performed on Wikipedia in the Norwegian language for 911 days for the most common sexually transmitted diseases (chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], and acquired immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS]), other health-related topics (influenza, diabetes, and menopause), and 2 nonhealth-related topics (footballer Lionel Messi and pop singer Justin Bieber). The search dates were classified according to the day of the week and ANOVA tests were used to compare the average number of hits per day of the week.Results: The ANOVA tests showed that the sexually transmitted disease queries had their highest peaks on Tuesdays (P<.001) and the fewest searches on Saturdays. The other health topics also showed a weekly pattern, with the highest peaks early in the week and lower numbers on Saturdays (P<.001). Footballer Lionel Messi had the highest mean number of hits on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, whereas pop singer Justin Bieber had the most hits on Tuesdays. Both these tracked search queries also showed significantly lower numbers on Saturdays (P<.001).Conclusions: Our study supports prior studies finding an increase in health information searching at the beginning of the workweek. However, we also found a similar pattern for 2 randomly chosen nonhealth-related terms, which may suggest that the search pattern is not unique to health-related searches. The results are potentially relevant beyond the field of health and our preliminary findings need to be further explored in future studies involving a broader range of nonhealth-related searches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Information has been identified as a commonly unmet supportive care need for those living with cancer (ie, patients and their friends and family). The information needed to help individuals plan their lives around the consequences of cancer, such as the receipt of health care, is an example of an important informational need. A suitable theory to guide the development of interventions designed to meet this informational need has not been identified by the authors.Objective: The aim of this study is to generate a grounded theory capable of guiding the development of interventions designed to assist those living with cancer in meeting their informational needs.Methods: Classic grounded theory was used to analyze data collected through digitally recorded one-on-one audio interviews with 31 patients with cancer and 29 friends and family members. These interviews focused on how the participants had accessed and used information to plan their lives and what barriers they faced in obtaining and using this information.Results: The theory that emerged consisted of 4 variables: personal projects, cancer as a source of disruption to personal projects, information as the process of accessing and interpreting cancer-related data (CRD) to inform action, and CRD quality as defined by accessibility, credibility, applicability, and framing. CRD quality as a moderator of personal project disruption by cancer is the core concept of this theory.Conclusions: Informational resources providing accessible, credible, applicable, and positively framed CRD are likely key to meeting the information needs of those affected by cancer. Web-based informational resources delivering high-quality CRD focused on assisting individuals living with cancer in maintaining and planning their personal projects are predicted to improve quality of life. Research is needed to develop and integrate resources informed by this theoretical framework into clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health information is increasingly being disseminated online, but there is a knowledge gap between Latinos and non-Hispanic whites, particularly those whose English language proficiency is poor, in terms both of online health information-seeking behavior and computer literacy skills. This knowledge gap may also exist between US- and foreign-born Latinos.Objective: The specific aim of this study was to examine Internet use, online health information-seeking behavior, and confidence in filling out online forms among Latinos, particularly as it relates to health-risk behaviors. We then stratified our sample by nativity.Methods: We used the adult population file of the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey, analyzing Internet use, online health information-seeking behavior, and confidence in filling out online forms using binary logistic regression among Latinos and whites (N=27,289), Latinos (n=9506), and Latinos who use the Internet (n=6037).Results: Foreign-born Latinos (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.58-0.88, P=.002) have lower odds of engaging in online health information-seeking behavior, and higher odds (OR 2.90, 95% CI 2.07-4.06, P<.001) of reporting a lack of confidence in filling out online forms compared to US-born Latinos. Correlates of online health information-seeking behavior and form confidence varied by nativity.Conclusions: Latinos, particularly foreign-born individuals, are at an increased risk of being left behind as the move to increase online content delivery and care expands. As online health information dissemination and online health portals become more popular, the impact of these sites on Latino gaps in coverage and care should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]