Health information seeking and use outside of the medical encounter: Is it associated with race and ethnicity?

The Association Between Fruit and Vegetable Intake, Knowledge of the Recommendations, and Health Information Seeking Within Adults in the U.S. Mainland and in Puerto Rico

“…While health knowledge and exposure to health media have been shown to predict FV intake among U.S. adults (Shaikh et al, 2008), to increase awareness and behavioral intent (National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance, 2010), more than half of U.S. Hispanics and Puerto Rico respondents do not seek heath information from any source. Our results are in agreement with reports that U.S. Hispanics and U.S. nonHispanic Blacks are significantly less likely to seek any health information, compared with their counterparts (Ramanadhan & Viswanath, 2006;Rooks, Wiltshire, Elder, BeLue, & Gary, 2012;Rutten, Squiers, & Hesse, 2006;Wiltshire, Cronin, Sarto, & Brown, 2006). Those who do seek information tend to rely on trusted interpersonal communication with family and friends, in addition to print media (Finney Rutten Rutten et al, 2006).…”

“…Those who do seek information tend to rely on trusted interpersonal communication with family and friends, in addition to print media (Finney Rutten Rutten et al, 2006). Health literacy is a potential mediator to health information seeking behaviors (Rooks et al, 2012;Street & Epstein, 2008), thereby possibly increasing the disparity among groups due the high correlation between health literacy and education (Boyas, 2013;Morrow et al, 2006).…”

Do Patient Preferences for Health Information Vary by Health Literacy or Numeracy? A Qualitative Assessment

“…The desire for information varies by patient and by circumstance. Demographic variables such as education level and race have been shown to influence information seeking (Rooks, Wiltshire, Elder, Belue, & Gary, 2012), as has health literacy (Shieh, Broome, & Stump, 2010). Patients with inadequate functional health literacy have worse comprehension of physician instructions and tend to ask fewer questions in the medical encounter (Sudore et al, 2009).…”

Expert Knowledge Influences Decision-Making for Couples Receiving Positive Prenatal Chromosomal Microarray Testing Results

“…Couples must then navigate a nebulous decision making path regarding whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy, often assuming gendered responsibilities in the process (Werner-Lin et al 2015). The degree to which individuals find, believe, and utilize various sources of information is a function of variables such as ethnicity (Guidry et al 1998;Kakai et al 2003;Rooks et al 2012), gender (Halder, Ray, and Chakrabarty 2010), age (Turk-Charles, Meyerowitz, and Gatz 1997), socioeconomic status (Calvert, Aidala, and West 2013;Ramanadhan and Viswanath 2006), education (Carlsson 2014;Tu and Cohen 2008), and religious and spiritual beliefs (Cadge and Bergey 2013;Matthews et al 2002), and may be further stratified by information seeking tendencies (Anker, Reinhart, and Feeley 2011;Wallston, Maides, and Wallston 1976). These alternate knowledge platforms move beyond biomedically validated information into social and cultural forms of knowledge that individuals and couples can draw from and negotiate with each other to make and validate pregnancy decisions.…”