Sources of Health Information by Consumer's Characteristics

Objective : This study investigates consumers' choice regarding source of health information. Specifically, the relationships between consumers' socioeconomic characteristics, health status, attitude to health, information needs and source of health information were explored. Methods : Type of health information sources includes web-based, health professional, and mass-media types. Structured questionnaires were completed by 1,189 consumers through a telephone survey, and 622(52.3 %) responses were included in analysis. Results : A key finding was the significant difference for accessing health information by customer's characteristics, although the strong preference was shown in web-based resource. Accessing channels were different by consumer's needs of health information and attitude to health as well as consumer's age, job, education, and economic status. Conclusion : Consumer behaviors are likely to optimize physical and psychosocial health potentials through health information. Despite a growing number of available web-based health information resources, consumers continue to face a variety of barriers as they attempt to access these resources. Meeting consumer's needs for health information is an important role for all providers of health information.