Studying health information behaviors of people with cancer

Abstract

Aims: The purpose of this study is to investigate the health information behavior of people with cancer who referred to Shahid Bahonar Hospital and Jawad Alameh Clinic in Kerman city between 2017 and 2018 years. Materials and Methods: Descriptive method was used, and the data were collected through Longo's information behavior questionnaire. To test the research hypotheses, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used. Results: According to the data analysis, 99 (28.3%) respondents were poor, 157 (44.9%) had a moderate level of life, 65 (18.6%) had a good living standard, and 29 (8.3%) had a high level of living. According to the data analysis, 73 (20.9%) respondents were in the village, 188 (53.7%) lived in the small cities, and 89 (25.4%) were resident of the provincial capital city. Conclusion: The findings show that younger patients are more likely to seek health information and use information sources such as the Internet, social media, and medical journals. The results also proved that the male patients in comparison to the female patients receive their information more actively. The highly educated patients receive their health information actively and on the Internet. Patients with a high standard of living are actively engaged in the process of finding their health information, and poor and moderate levels of well-being receive their health information through doctors and interpersonal interactions.

Keywords

• information behaviors
• information behaviors of people with cancer
• information resources
• interpersonal interactions