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Introduction: The paper presents findings from a study investigating the health and lifestyle information behaviour of different groups of Icelanders. The paper focuses on the use of social media and its role in current information behaviour. Method: Quantitative methods were used. Two random samples were used in the study and the data were gathered using an internet and a telephone survey. Each sample consisted of 600 people from across the country, aged 18 years and older. Measurements included questions about the participants' socio-demographic background, their purposive information seeking, as well as seven questions about their use of social media. Analysis: The relationship between the socio-demographic variables and questions about the use of social media was analysed by chi-squared, and the scale social media. Cluster analysis was used to draw participants in four clusters: spasmodic, contemporary, conventional and enthusiastic. Evaluation of social media use was examined by analysis of variance. Binary logistic regression, controlling for background variables, was used to analyse the relationship between the cluster and the variable social media. Results: Participants in all groups were likely to use social media to read articles about health and lifestyle, and unlikely to post information or make comments about information from others. Women were more likely to employ social media than men and those who belong to the younger age groups were more likely to have used social media than those in the older age groups. The conventional and the spasmodic clusters seek information on the Internet and use social media infrequently, while the contemporary and the enthusiastic clusters do so more often. Conclusions: Participants in all groups preferred to use social media to read articles about health issues. This creates opportunities for health professionals to employ social media to strategically disseminate quality information and advocate healthy living. Social media is an important part of the information environment of the contemporary and the enthusiastic clusters while the spasmodic and conventional clusters use social media infrequently.

Competency in media and health information literacy (MHIL) is important as a tool for lifelong learning, which provides people with opportunities to make informed decisions about healthy living. In order to improve knowledge about how senior citizens lifelong learning can be supported, the study investigated various aspects of MHIL among seniors: motivation, information seeking behaviour and evaluation of information in the Media, from Health specialists and on the Internet. A random sample was used and data collected in 2012. Participants were categorized into two groups, 60 to 67 years and 68 years or older. Data analysis was performed with ANOVA (one-way). The findings suggest that the age groups have more in common than what differentiates them. They are equally motivated, have the same preferences for information seeking and information channels and hold the same beliefs about information quality. The main differences were that the younger group sought information somewhat more frequently and the older group was more critical of information quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports findings from an exploratory study which examines the information behaviour of Icelandic elderly people, who are still living in their own homes, and how their relatives support it. A qualitative study using grounded theory was conducted. A convenience sample was used and open-ended interviews conducted with sixteen elderly people. The participants were aged 70 to 90; nine were women and seven men. Their backgrounds varied as to education, work experience and residence, with some of them living in the capital area of Iceland, some in country towns and some in a rural area. Analysis of the data was conducted as described by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Activity theory and continuity theory were used as a theoretical lens in the study. The findings suggests that the elderly people received important support at information behaviour from their relatives, who thereby made it possible for them to maintain living in their own homes and assisted them in achieving continuity in the activities of their everyday life. Four topics of information that the participants received support about were identified: 1) information about formal support from the state or municipality, 2) health information, 3) information about insurances or finances, and 4) and information about family and friends. Getting used to the feeling of no longer being self-supportive, but in the role of needing support and care from their relatives, was a difficult and could even be a painful experience, for the older people. The strategies that they used to adjust to their situation may lead them to constrain their information behaviour, and as a consequence disrupt the continuity of their everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The paper focuses on factors related to purposive health and lifestyle information seeking on the Internet, examining participants' access to the Internet from four access points; the prevalence of their health and lifestyle information seeking, as well as information seeking in relation to other topics; the barriers to information seeking they experienced; and self-evaluation of their skills at seeking online information. Method. The sample consists of 1,000 Icelanders, aged eighteen to eighty, randomly selected from the National Register of Persons in Iceland. The data were gathered as a postal survey during spring 2007. Response rate was 47%. Analysis. Based on the participants' health and lifestyle information seeking in twenty-two sources, k-means cluster analysis was used to draw four clusters: passive, moderately passive, moderately active and active. Results. The active and moderately passive clusters have greater access to the Internet and their members seek online information more frequently than the passive and moderately active clusters. All clusters seek information about health and lifestyle less frequently than information about other topics. The passive and moderately active clusters experience more barriers to information seeking than the other two clusters. However, the passive and moderately passive clusters consider themselves to have more competency at seeking online information than do the moderately passive and active clusters. Conclusions. For the Internet to be used in an effective way for health promotion it is necessary to gain more complete knowledge of the various aspects of health information behaviour and identify the characteristics of those who have adopted it to seek information, compared with those who have done so to a lesser extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]