Cancer-Related Information Seeking: Hints from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS)

Abstract

Few nationally representative surveys have assessed the cancer-related information seeking behavior of the American public. Data for our analysis were from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). The goals of our analysis were to characterize cancer information seekers (3,011) and nonseekers (3,348) in terms of sociodemographic, health care access, and health status variables, and to describe the nature of the cancer-related information being sought by information seekers. Significant and independent associations with seeking status were identified for gender, age, race, income, education, personal and family history of cancer, and having a usual source of health care. Information seekers were less likely to be male (OR = .51); aged 65 or older (OR = .40); Hispanic (OR = .60); to have a usual source of health care (OR = .70); and more likely to have incomes greater than $50,000 (OR = 1.50), some college (OR = 1.87) or a college degree (OR = 2.95), a prior cancer diagnosis (OR = 3.57), or a family history of cancer (OR = 2.17). Among cancer information seekers, the most frequently searched topic was cancer site-specific information (50.2%). Individuals who reported searching for cancer site-specific information were most frequently looking for information about breast cancer (23.8%), prostate cancer (11.5%), and skin cancer (11.3%). The HINTS survey provides a unique opportunity to explore the characteristics of information seekers and nonseekers and the content of information being sought by the public in a nationally representative sample; understanding gained from this effort provides generalizable and policy-relevant information about the American public's information needs.

Determinants of Health Information-Seeking Behavior: Implications for Post-Treatment Cancer Patients

“…The correlation between socio-demographic characteristics and HISB has been studied relatively frequently, and the general conclusion is that women, non-Hispanic whites, young and highly educated people, and high-income earners are very likely to practice HISB (Duggan and Bates, 2008;Eakin and Strycker, 2001;Mayer et al, 2007;Rutten et al, 2006). First, women search for health information more actively than do men, and the reason may lie in gender differences in the sociocultural context (Rutten et al, 2006).…”

“…First, women search for health information more actively than do men, and the reason may lie in gender differences in the sociocultural context (Rutten et al, 2006). Second, non-Hispanic whites participate more actively in HISB than do other races (Nguyen and Bellamy, 2006).…”

“…While the reasons for this are uncertain, it seems to be an effect of the combination of language barriers and disproportionately low educational levels. Third, as age increases, HISB generally decreases (Duggan and Bates, 2008;Rutten et al, 2006;Lambert and Loiselle, 2007). The reason for this is that senior citizens experience impediments in using telecommunication devices such as the Internet (Cotton and Gupta, 2004).…”

“…So far, a large number of studies have reported that HISB improves individual healthcare management skills and medical compliance while being strongly associated with decreasing unhealthy behaviors and increasing medical service satisfaction and cooperative decision-making (Briss et al, 2004;Gray et al, 2009;Hiatt and Rimer, 1999;Shi et al, 2004;Warner and Procaccino, 2004;Yu et al, 2008;Rutten et al, 2006;Jung, 2014). In practice, health information sourced from HISB is useful not only for handling health problems, but also for boosting self-efficacy, thereby fostering information-seeking behaviors and enhancing overall health communication capacity (Lee et al, 2008).…”

Preferences for Health Information Technologies Among US Adults: Analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey (Preprint)

“…[49][50][51] In our study, the only question indicating a difference by gender suggests that men may be more interested in using HIT to discuss diagnostic information with their providers. Finally, individuals with chronic conditions were more likely to access personal health information online through a website or app for the last 12 months.…”