Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB) among the University Students

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding the information seeking behavior of individuals, especially students who are more likely to seek health information than other people, can be seen as an opportunity to provide resources to improve lifestyle or prevent possible health threatening behaviors among students. The main objective of this research is to determine the HISB among students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TUOMS).Material and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at TUOMS among students in 2017 through using simple random sampling method.Results: The results showed that most of the students had experience of searching information about prevention of illness (47.8%) and general health knowledge (45.1%). The common outcomes of accessing health information by students were their decision to visit the physician (68.2%) and relieving their concern about their condition or illness (60.2%).Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that most students are searching for information on diet, physical activity and physical health.

The Correlation of Online Health Information Seeking Experience with the Health Related Quality of Life: A Cross-sectional Study among Iranian Female Students

“…Another study on the students aged 15-18 years from different schools in Isfahan [27], a study involving 430 students from Gonabad University [42], two other studies at Gorgan and Kermanshah universities [29,43], Two other studies at Tabriz University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences have also have reported the similar results [24,44].…”

“…Adolescents often seek health information with different objectives and motives [28,29,44] and they, typically seek information relating to the variety of health subjects such as healthy eating, physical activity, exercise, weight control, risks and complications of diseases treatments, sexual and reproductive health, sexual and physical abuse, alcohol consumption and other substances, tobacco use, mental health, accidents and injuries, health care providers and support groups [27,33,35,38,44].…”

“…The majority of participants also had a good trust to the quality of information and was interested in retrieving health information from Internet twice [28]. Another study at Tabriz University has reported that Internet is one of the trusted sources of health information for participants [44]. At the same time; a study in Isfahan schools has shown that more than 47 percent of those who did not use the Internet to search health information reported the lack of trust in Internet information as the main cause of their decision to don't be online health information seeker [27].…”

“…This can have many explanations. Challenges such as the lack of appropriate information and inadequate quality, poor health literacy of internet users, insufficient skills in searching information, lack of trust in online health information sources and concerns about the security and confidentiality reduce the potential of internet in serving the health of population [27,33,44]. The production and dissemination of health misinformation is also a serious concern.…”

The Correlation of Online Health Information–Seeking Experience With Health-Related Quality of Life: Cross-Sectional Study Among Non–English-Speaking Female Students in a Religious Community (Preprint)

“…Two other studies in Tehran high schools have reported similar rates [37,38]. Another study on students aged 15-18 years from different schools in Isfahan [21], a study involving 430 students from Gonabad University [39], two other studies at Gorgan and Kermanshah universities [40,41], and two other studies at Tabriz University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences have reported similar results [19,42].…”