Search Engine Use for Health-Related Purposes: Behavioral Data on Online Health Information-Seeking in Germany.
| Autor: | Bachl, Marko, Link, Elena, Mangold, Frank, Stier, Sebastian |
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| Předmět: |
HEALTH information services
SELF-evaluation SECONDARY analysis RESEARCH funding SEX distribution PROBABILITY theory AGE distribution DESCRIPTIVE statistics SURVEYS INFORMATION needs SEARCH engines DATA analysis software CONFIDENCE intervals MEDICINE information services INFORMATION-seeking behavior EDUCATIONAL attainment |
| Zdroj: | Health Communication; Jul2024, Vol. 39 Issue 8, p1651-1664, 14p |
| Abstrakt: | Internet searches for health-related purposes are common, with search engines like Google being the most popular starting point. However, results on the popularity of health information-seeking behaviors are based on self-report data, often criticized for suffering from incomplete recall, overreporting, and low reliability. Therefore, the current study builds on user-centric tracking of Internet use to reveal how individuals actually behave online. We conducted a secondary analysis of passively recorded Internet use logs to examine the prevalence of health-related search engine use, the types of health information searched for, and the sources visited after the searches. The analysis revealed two key findings. 1) We largely support earlier survey-based findings on the prevalence of online health information seeking with search engines and the relatively minor differences in information-seeking behaviors between socio-demographic groups. 2) We provide a more granular picture of the process of HISB using search engines by identifying different selection patterns depending on the scope of the searches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: | Complementary Index |
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