Effects of Public Online Health Information Search on Offline Medical Care Seeking Behavior

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] At present, studies on online health information search at home and abroad mainly focus on the analysis of influencing factors of online health information search, the analysis of characteristics of online health information search, and the analysis of the action path between online health information search and health anxiety, etc. Few scholars focus their research objects and perspectives on offline medical treatment behavior. Moreover, there is insufficient research on the effects and mechanism of online health information search on offline medical treatment behavior. This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of public online health information search and explore the factors that affect public online health information search on offline medical care seeking behavior. [Method/Process] Based on the S-O-R theory, this paper proposed relevant hypotheses and constructed a correlation model between online health information search and offline medical care seeking behavior. Taking college students as the main research object, based on the maturity scale of domestic and foreign authorities, four variables of online health information search, risk perception, physical alertness and offline medical treatment behavior and 13 operable observation variables were designed. SPSS25.0 software was used to conduct reliability and validity analysis, correlation analysis and factor analysis of 204 valid questionnaires collected. Amos25.0 software was used to construct a structural equation model to verify the hypothesis and the Bootstrap method was used to test the mediation effect. [Results/Conclusions] The research findings: 1) public online health information search significantly affects offline medical seeking behavior; 2) public online health information search significantly affects risk perception; 3) public physical alertness significantly affects offline medical care seeking behavior; 4) risk perception and body alertness mediate between public online health information search and offline medical care seeking behavior. Based on the study conclusions and the results of interviews with some surveyors, two suggestions have been put forward. On the one hand, it is necessary to collect online resources, drive offline traffic, and help the growth of the offline medical market. On the other hand, it is necessary to build a health index, establish a nationally unified and credible evaluation index system for the health of urban residents, index evaluation of residents' health status, and predict disease manifestations. Most of the subjects in this study are college students, and the questionnaire distribution scope is limited, so the research results are not representative enough. Additionally, the scope of the research object will be further expanded to include the middle-aged and senior subjects to enhance the persuasiveness of the research conclusions.

Keywords

• public online health information search|offline medical treatment behavior|influencing factors|structural equation model