The Relationship Between Individual Coping and the Need to Have and Seek Health Information Among Older Adults: Exploratory Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Background The need to have and seek information shapes the context of computing systems. When it comes to health, individual coping influences human behavior. Therefore, the relationship between individual coping and the need to have and seek health information plays a crucial role in the development of digital health systems. Objective This study aims to examine the relationship between individual coping and the need to have and seek health information among older adults. Methods Questionnaires and semistructured interviews investigated the health information need (HIN) and health information–seeking behavior (HISB) in relation to the individual coping strategies of 26 older Germans. Results The mean age of the interviewed group was 71 years (SD 7). Quantitatively, a trend was found for a negative correlation between the avoidance-oriented coping and HIN (rs=−0.37895; bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap 95% BCa CI −0.730 to 0.092; P=.05). The qualitative results supported this finding. For some participants, information and exchange was part of dealing with their health situation, whereas others wanted to learn as little as possible to avoid a decline in their health status. The older adults acquired, collected, and exchanged paper-based health data to augment clinical information sources and support information exchange with professionals. Conclusions Individual coping strategies are relevant for the design of digital health systems. They can support older adults in coping with their health situation, although it remains unclear how systems must be designed for people with an avoidance coping strategy to achieve the same acceptance.

The Dispersion of Health Information–Seeking Behavior and Health Literacy in a State in the Southern United States: Cross-sectional Study

“…Other studies indicate an increase in internet use in older age groups; however, age was still not considered a predictor of HISB [ 70 ]. Although older adults may be heavy users of health services owing to increasing age-related and comorbid illnesses, they tend to be the lowest category of internet and other web-based health service users [ 71 , 72 ]. While these findings are specific to adults in Georgia, they are similar to other findings across the United States and the globe.…”

Human information behavior during the Covid-19 health crisis. A literature review

“…According to McKenzie and Willson (2019), social interaction and information exchanges help to redefine oneself and a personal situation during "transitions", including situations of substantial change in a person's life, such as development of disease. In the context of illness, diversified information sources, experiences, and communication channels enable individuals to build the capacity to cope, while individual coping strategies allow individuals to deal with health situations through different information practices (Sen & Spring, 2013;Theis et al, 2021). The search for normality after a traumatic event, such as the diagnosis of a chronic disease, appears to be an information-based process in several studies (Genuis & Bronstein, 2017;Patel, Blandford, Stephenson et al Steinerová, 2019).…”