Cancer survivors information seeking behaviors: A comparison of survivors who do and do not seek information about cancer

Abstract

Objective-To examine the cancer information seeking behaviors and preferences of cancer survivors. Results-Two thirds (67.5%, n=418) of the survivors sought cancer information (InfoSeek) and 32.5% (n=201) did not (NoInfoSeek). Significant predictors of cancer information seeking included age (less than 65), gender (female), income (>$25,000/yr) and having a regular HCP. Methods-ThisConclusion-Not all survivors actively look for cancer information. Although most survivors prefer receiving cancer information from their HCP, many turn to a variety of other sources, primarily the internet.Practice Implications-HCPs should periodically assess information seeking behaviors and preferences of cancer survivors and actively refer patients to the Internet as an extension of and enhancement to their patient interactions. Credible and useful websites could be identified and recommended by the HCP as a means to address some of the barriers identified by survivors.

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

“…Such medical developments occur concurrently with communication innovations that provide voluminous information through diverse information delivery platforms. Of the numerous types of healthcare needs, health information is the most basic (Duggan and Bates, 2008;Mayer et al, 2007). Therefore, it is very crucial to have an in-depth understanding of factors behind HISBs by post-treatment cancer patients, thereby enabling both patients and their families to gain a better capacity for health communication.…”

“…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).…”

“…As is well known, educational levels and health literacy have a high correlation, and the higher they are, the more active HISB is (Institute of Medicine, 2004;Shieh et al, 2009). Finally, the higher the income, the greater the possibility of accessing quality health information (Ramanadhan, Viswanath, 2006;Mayer et al, 2007). In particular, in the case of media whose scope of use broadens according to a payment plan, such a correlation becomes even clearer.…”

Associations of Self-rated Health and Socioeconomic Status with Information Seeking and Avoiding Behavior among Post-Treatment Cancer Patients

“…Particularly, few studies have directly compared the two within one sample due to difficulties in collecting data for a systematic comparison. Moreover, seeking and avoiding behaviors can change over the illness trajectory (McCaughan and McKenna, 2007;Eheman et al, 2009;, as well as disease related factors (Mayer et al, 2007;Nagler et al, 2010;SmithMcLallen et al, 2011). Therefore, this study on HISBs and HIABs promises to provide useful material for comparing the two categories.…”

“…SES difference included income (Ramanadhan and Viswanath, 2006), education (Rutten et al, 2006;Mayer et al, 2007;Duggan and Bates, 2008), and ethnic/racial groups (Levinson et al, 2005;Rutten et al, 2006;Mayer et al, 2007) in the HISB group. Sociodemographic antecedents (SDA) such as gender and age are important, with men and younger-age subjects more likely to engage in information seeking behavior than women and older subjects (Rutten et al, 2006;Mayer et al, 2007;Vanderpool et al, 2009;Viswanath et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2013).…”