Perceived Active Control over Online Health Information: Underlying Mechanisms of Mode Tailoring Effects on Website Attitude and Information Recall

Abstract

Previous tailoring research has traditionally studied effects of system-initiated message content to match individual characteristics. Recently scholars have explored how tailoring health information to individual modality preferences and processing styles can increase message effectiveness. Using a web-based experiment among a representative sample of Internet users (N = 392; 25-86 years), this study investigated the underlying mechanisms that might explain the effects of mode tailoring on website attitudes and recall of online health information. Results from structural equation modeling showed that mode tailoringenabling users to self-customize a health website's presentation mode (via textual, visual, audiovisual information)increased users' perceived active control, which in turn contributed to higher perceived relevance and website engagement, and reduced cognitive load. Positive indirect effects of mode tailoring (vs. no tailoring) through these mechanisms were found for both website attitude and information recall. The findings suggest that perceived active control is the key driver of mode tailoring effects. Mode tailoring can be a promising and novel strategy to maximize the effectiveness of tailored health communications. The authors discuss the implications for theory and design of digital health information.

Digital Health Usage and Awareness among MedicalStudents: A Survey Study

“…Participants have reported using different types of digital messages, with highest preference of text messages (74.8%). This goes with the work done by Nguyen et al whose findings revealed that 76.0% of study participants preferred to use text messages in their study to investigate the underlying mechanisms of mode tailoring effects on website attitude and information recall [16]. This finding uncovers the importance of text messaging as a tool of health education and communication being easier and less time and Internet consuming.…”

Customization versus Personalisation of Digital Health Information

“…A potential explanation is that personalised mode tailoring required less cognitive effort from the user as opposed to mode customisation, which was a novel task that required action on the user side (e.g., in our study, people toggled between modes about four times). However, a more recent study has shown that customisation and perceived active control over online health information can decrease the cognitive load and facilitate information processing (Nguyen et al, 2020). It could be that with repeated use of the customisable website, the cognitive effort is reduced as users become familiar with the interface, and thus the customisation becomes more effective.…”

“…First, we examine the differential effects of customised and personalised (vs. non-tailored and mismatched) modes of information delivery (i.e., using textual, visual, audiovisual information) on online health information processing outcomes. These information processing outcomes, identified as important mechanisms for understanding the effects of tailored health information by earlier scholarship (e.g., Jensen et al, 2012;Lustria et al, 2016;Nguyen et al, 2020), include time spent online, attention, perceived relevance, website involvement, website satisfaction and information recall. Second, we examine whether certain groups of individuals -low versus high health literacy and younger versus older -are more likely to benefit from customised versus personalised mode tailoring of online health information.…”

Site Usability as an Indicator of the Educational Institution Media Culture (On the Example of Basic Schools of the Kirov Region)

“…The site operational comfort, as one of the specific manifestations of the organization's media culture, can be clearly seen in medicine-related works that actively explore the possibilities of usability for effective communication between a doctor and a patient. The agenda includes issues of the user's self-configurating the mode of presenting text, visual, and audio-visual information on medical sites that contribute to reducing the cognitive load on the user and increasing his involvement in the site content (Nguyen et al, 2020). Scientists' attention is drawn to the influence of high-quality content of health sites on the formation of greater confidence in the doctor's recommendations (Sivakumar, Mares, 2017), the role of medical consultation sites in forming a personal image of a medical worker (Mao, Zhao, 2019).…”