Health information literacy and stage of change in relation to physical activity information seeking and avoidance: A population‐based study among young men

In this study we investigate young men's seeking and avoidance of physical activity and exercise information. Stage of exercise behavior change as identified in the Transtheoretical Model and everyday health information literacy are studied in relation to these actions. The data were collected with a questionnaire survey (n=1,040) administered at the Finnish Defence Forces’ call‐ups in September‐December 2013 in Oulu, Finland. Statistical analyses include analysis of variance and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The results indicate that stage of exercise behavior change is associated with information seeking on physical activity and exercise, but only vaguely with avoidance of information. By contrast, everyday health information literacy was associated with avoidance of information and not with information seeking. Future studies should look more carefully into the relationship between health information behavior and literacy. Moreover, information behavior in stages of behavior change should be studied in the context of other health behaviors and among other populations.

[1]  Jason W. Osborne,et al.  Bringing balance and technical accuracy to reporting odds ratios and the results of logistic regression analyses , 2006 .

[2]  Lynn Allardyce Irvine.  New Directions in Children’s and Adolescents’ Information Behavior Research , 2015 .

[3]  Adam N. Joinson,et al.  Seeking alcohol information on the Internet , 2003, Aslib Proc..

[4]  G. Norman,et al.  SMOKING CESSATION AND STRESS MANAGEMENT : APPLICATIONS OF THE TRANSTHEORETICAL MODEL OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE , 1998 .

[5]  David Allen,et al.  Information overload: context and causes , 2003 .

[6]  L. Johnston,et al.  Physical Activity Behavior Change Interventions Based on the Transtheoretical Model: A Systematic Review , 2009, Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education.

[7]  Jason W. Osborne.  Bringing balance and technical accuracy to reporting odds ratios and the results of logistic regression analyses , 2006 .

[8]  B. Cardinal.  The stages of exercise scale and stages of exercise behavior in female adults. , 1995, The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness.

[9]  Deborah Riebe,et al.  Promoting exercise and behavior change in older adults : interventions with the transtheoretical model , 2002 .

[10]  C. Field,et al.  The stages of change: when are trauma patients truly ready to change? , 2005, The Journal of trauma.

[11]  Jannica Heinström,et al.  Monitoring or avoiding health information--the relation to inner inclination and health status. , 2011, Health information and libraries journal.

[12]  R. Motl,et al.  A Research Agenda to Examine the Efficacy and Relevance of the Transtheoretical Model for Physical Activity Behavior. , 2011, Psychology of sport and exercise.

[13]  A. Casey,et al.  Health Information Literacy and Competencies of Information Age Students: Results From the Interactive Online Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA) , 2006, Journal of medical Internet research.

[14]  Minsun Shim,et al.  Cancer information seeking and scanning behavior is associated with knowledge, lifestyle choices and screening. , 2006 .

[15]  T. D. Wilson,et al.  Models in information behaviour research , 1999, J. Documentation.

[16]  Suzanne L. Allard,et al.  Avoiding versus seeking: the relationship of information seeking to avoidance, blunting, coping, dissonance, and related concepts. , 2005, Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA.

[17]  Barbara Niedzwiedzka,et al.  Determinants of information behaviour and information literacy related to healthy eating among Internet users in five European countries , 2014, Inf. Res..

[18]  J. Prochaska.  Decision Making in the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change , 2008, Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making.

[19]  Wendi A. Miller,et al.  Information Avoidance: Who, What, When, and Why , 2010 .

[20]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  The internet and health care : theory, research, and practice , 2006 .

[21]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[22]  Heidi P. K. Enwald,et al.  Young men's perceptions of fear appeal versus neutral health messages - associations with everyday health information literacy, education, and health , 2015, Inf. Res..

[23]  David Bawden,et al.  The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies , 2009, J. Inf. Sci..

[24]  G. Cameron.  Health Information Literacy , 2013 .

[25]  Kara L. Hall,et al.  Meta-analytic examination of the strong and weak principles across 48 health behaviors. , 2008, Preventive medicine.

[26]  Raija Korpelainen,et al.  Information behavior in stages of exercise behavior change , 2012, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[27]  Maija-Leena Huotari,et al.  A Screening Tool for Assessing Everyday Health Information Literacy , 2012 .

[28]  S. Haas,et al.  Communication in the management of uncertainty: The case of persons living with HIV or AIDS , 2000 .

[29]  Suzanne M. Miller,et al.  Interacting effects of information and coping style in adapting to gynecologic stress: should the doctor tell all? , 1983, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[30]  Oliver Pesch,et al.  The serials librarian: : from the printed page to the digital age , 2013 .

[31]  D. Case,et al.  Health Information Seeking , 2012 .

[32]  Heidi E. Julien,et al.  Discourse and practice in information literacy and information seeking: gaps and opportunities , 2011, Inf. Res..

[33]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  Media Use Theory and Internet Use for Health Care , 2013 .

[34]  Markus A. Feufel,et al.  What do Web-Use Skill Differences Imply for Online Health Information Searches? , 2012, Journal of medical Internet research.

[35]  Ágústa Pálsdóttir,et al.  Information behaviour, health self-efficacy beliefs and health behaviour in Icelanders' everyday life , 2008, Inf. Res..

[36]  Tiina M. Ikäheimo,et al.  Gamified physical activation of young men – a Multidisciplinary Population-Based Randomized Controlled Trial (MOPO study) , 2013, BMC Public Health.

[37]  Kristen M. Hallows.  Health Information Literacy and the Elderly: Has the Internet Had an Impact? , 2013 .

[38]  J. Clore,et al.  Health Information Seeking, Receipt, and Use in Diabetes Self-Management , 2010, The Annals of Family Medicine.

[39]  Craig S. Rosen,et al.  Is the sequencing of change processes by stage consistent across health problems? A meta-analysis. , 2000, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[40]  Tammy Toscos,et al.  Using Behavior Change Theory to Understand and Guide Technological Interventions. , 2010 .

[41]  J. Prochaska,et al.  Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: toward an integrative model of change. , 1983, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[42]  J. D. Johnson.  Cancer-Related Information Seeking , 1997 .

[43]  A. Bandura,et al.  The anatomy of stages of change. , 1997, American journal of health promotion : AJHP.

[44]  R W Rogers,et al.  Effects of fear appeals and physiological arousal upon emotion, attitudes, and cigarette smoking. , 1975, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[45]  K. Viswanath,et al.  Health Information Seeking , 2011 .

[46]  G. Kok,et al.  Sixty years of fear appeal research: current state of the evidence. , 2014, International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie.

[47]  Reijo Savolainen,et al.  Avoiding health information in the context of uncertainty management , 2010, Inf. Res..

[48]  Judit Bar-Ilan,et al.  The role of information in a lifetime process - a model of weight maintenance by women over long time periods , 2006, Inf. Res..

[49]  R. Plotnikoff,et al.  Physical Activity Related Information Sources Predict Physical Activity Behaviors in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes , 2010, Journal of health communication.

[50]  Nahyun Kwon,et al.  Predictors of cancer information overload: findings from a national survey , 2007, Inf. Res..

[51]  I. Kickbusch,et al.  Health literacy: an essential skill for the twenty‐first century , 2008 .

[52]  Valerie Nesset,et al.  Depicting the Intersection between Information-Seeking Behavior and Information Literacy in the Research Process: A Model , 2014 .

[53]  Maija-Leena Huotari,et al.  Health information literacy in everyday life: A study of Finns aged 65–79 years , 2012, Health Informatics J..

[54]  H. Krohne.  Vigilance and cognitive avoidance as concepts in coping research. , 1993 .

[55]  J. Prochaska,et al.  The transtheoretical model and stages of change. , 1996 .