Defining information need in health – assimilating complex theories derived from information science

Background  Key policy drivers worldwide include optimizing patients’ roles in managing their care; focusing services around patients’ needs and preferences; and providing information to support patients’ contributions and choices. The term information need penetrates many policy documents. Information need is espoused as the foundation from which to develop patient‐centred or patient‐led services. Yet there is no clear definition as to what the term means or how patients’ information needs inform and shape information provision and patient care.

[1]  Stacey Hunter,et al.  The information needs of patients treated with primary angioplasty for heart attack: an exploratory study. , 2008, Patient education and counseling.

[2]  Martin McKee,et al.  Caring for People with Chronic Conditions: A Health System Perspective , 2008 .

[3]  Peter A Bath,et al.  Understanding the information behaviours of carers of people with dementia: A critical review of models from information science , 2008, Aging & mental health.

[4]  K. Booth,et al.  Information needs and decision-making preferences: comparing findings for gynaecological, breast and colorectal cancer. , 2007, European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society.

[5]  Hugh McKenna,et al.  Never-ending making sense: towards a substantive theory of the information-seeking behaviour of newly diagnosed cancer patients. , 2007, Journal of clinical nursing.

[6]  T. Saracevic,et al.  Relevance: A review of the literature and a framework for thinking on the notion in information science. Part II: nature and manifestations of relevance , 2007, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[7]  S. Lambert,et al.  Health Information—Seeking Behavior , 2007, Qualitative health research.

[8]  A. Fine,et al.  Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Stages 3 and 4 Demand Survival Information on Dialysis , 2007, Peritoneal dialysis international : journal of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis.

[9]  P. Butow,et al.  A systematic review of prognostic/end-of-life communication with adults in the advanced stages of a life-limiting illness: patient/caregiver preferences for the content, style, and timing of information. , 2007, Journal of pain and symptom management.

[10]  A. Braunack-Mayer,et al.  The information needs of women diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – implications for treatment and health outcomes , 2007, BMC women's health.

[11]  Gary L. Kreps,et al.  Cancer survivors information seeking behaviors: a comparison of survivors who do and do not seek information about cancer. , 2007, Patient education and counseling.

[12]  F. Timmins.  Exploring the concept of 'information need'. , 2006, International journal of nursing practice.

[13]  D. Wolfe,et al.  Information needs and information sources of individuals living with spinal cord injury. , 2006, Health information and libraries journal.

[14]  M. Hyland,et al.  The Lung Information Needs Questionnaire: Development, preliminary validation and findings. , 2006, Respiratory medicine.

[15]  Reijo Savolainen,et al.  Spatial factors as contextual qualifiers of information seeking , 2006, Inf. Res..

[16]  Natalya Godbold,et al.  Beyond information seeking: towards a general model of information behaviour , 2006, Inf. Res..

[17]  Ann Blandford,et al.  Patient information needs: pre- and post-consultation , 2006, Health Informatics J..

[18]  Reijo Savolainen,et al.  Time as a context of information seeking , 2006 .

[19]  Kalyani Ankem,et al.  Factors influencing information needs among cancer patients: A meta-analysis , 2006 .

[20]  Peter Ingwersen,et al.  The Turn - Integration of Information Seeking and Retrieval in Context , 2005, The Kluwer International Series on Information Retrieval.

[21]  A. Christensen,et al.  Health Locus of Control and Depression in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Dynamic Perspective , 2005, Journal of health psychology.

[22]  D. Longo,et al.  Understanding health information, communication, and information seeking of patients and consumers: a comprehensive and integrated model , 2005, Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy.

[23]  A. Coulter,et al.  European patients' views on the responsiveness of health systems and healthcare providers. , 2005, European journal of public health.

[24]  F. Timmins.  A review of the information needs of patients with acute coronary syndromes. , 2005, Nursing in critical care.

[25]  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.

[26]  J. Rowland,et al.  Information needs and sources of information among cancer patients: a systematic review of research (1980-2003). , 2005, Patient education and counseling.

[27]  Marianne Wikgren,et al.  Critical realism as a philosophy and social theory in information science? , 2005, J. Documentation.

[28]  M. Browall,et al.  Information needs of women with recently diagnosed ovarian cancer--a longitudinal study. , 2004, European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society.

[29]  K. Beaver.  Meeting the information needs of people with cancer. , 2004, European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society.

[30]  Nigel Ford,et al.  Modeling cognitive processes in information seeking: From Popper to Pask , 2004, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[31]  Andrew K. Shenton,et al.  The nature of information needs and strategies for their investigation in youngsters , 2004 .

[32]  Mark Hepworth.  A framework for understanding user requirements for an information service: Defining the needs of informal carers , 2004, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[33]  B. Savelyich,et al.  Information needs of Asian and White British cancer patients and their families in Leicestershire: a cross-sectional survey , 2004, British Journal of Cancer.

[34]  Mark Hepworth,et al.  A Survey of the Information Needs of People with Multiple Sclerosis , 2004, Health Informatics J..

[35]  D. Stewart,et al.  Medical decision-making and information needs in end-stage renal disease patients. , 2003, General hospital psychiatry.

[36]  J. David Johnson,et al.  On contexts of information seeking , 2003, Inf. Process. Manag..

[37]  D. Thompson,et al.  Assessing the information needs of post-myocardial infarction patients: a systematic review. , 2003, Patient education and counseling.

[38]  Angela Coulter,et al.  The European Patient Of The Future , 2003 .

[39]  Paul Solomon,et al.  Looking for Information—A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior , 2003, Information Retrieval.

[40]  Amanda Spink,et al.  Information seeking and mediated searching: Part 2. Uncertainty and its correlates , 2002, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[41]  A. Woodcock,et al.  An exploratory study of priority information needs in adult asthma patients. , 2002, Patient education and counseling.

[42]  B. McCormick,et al.  Sense Making Process in Defining Health for People with Chronic Illness and Disabilities. , 2002 .

[43]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Impact of health beliefs, quality of life, and the physician-patient relationship on the treatment intentions of inflammatory bowel disease patients. , 2002, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[44]  J. D. Johnson,et al.  A model for understanding and affecting cancer genetics information seeking , 2001 .

[45]  Sujin Butdisuwan,et al.  Assessing Information Needs: Tools, Techniques and Concepts for the Internet Age (2nd ed.) , 2001 .

[46]  J. Pruyn,et al.  Measuring information needs among cancer patients. , 2001, Patient education and counseling.

[47]  P. Bath,et al.  Information-seeking behaviors of women with breast cancer. , 2001, Oncology nursing forum.

[48]  M Dixon-Woods,et al.  Writing wrongs? An analysis of published discourses about the use of patient information leaflets. , 2001, Social science & medicine.

[49]  K. Niccum,et al.  Wheels within wheels: creating a circle of knowledge through communication. , 2000, Advances in renal replacement therapy.

[50]  K. McPherson,et al.  Cancer patients' information needs and information seeking behaviour: in depth interview study , 2000, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[51]  Van Der Molem.  Relating information needs to the cancer experience: 1. Information as a key coping strategy. , 1999 .

[52]  D E Harrison,et al.  Information needs and preference for information of women with breast cancer over a first course of radiation therapy. , 1999, Patient education and counseling.

[53]  Brenda Dervin,et al.  On studying information seeking methodologically: the implications of connecting metatheory to method , 1999, Inf. Process. Manag..

[54]  Karen E. Pettigrew,et al.  Waiting for chiropody: contextual results from an ethnographic study of the information behaviour among attendees at community clinics , 1999, Inf. Process. Manag..

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

[56]  A Coulter,et al.  Sharing decisions with patients: is the information good enough? , 1999, BMJ.

[57]  Brenda Dervin,et al.  Sense-making theory and practice: an overview of user interests in knowledge seeking and use , 1998, J. Knowl. Manag..

[58]  S. McIver.  Consumer health information services cannot work alone. , 1998, Quality in health care : QHC.

[59]  SolomonPaul.  Discovering information behavior in sense making. I , 1997 .

[60]  Brenda Dervin,et al.  Given a context by any other name: methodological tools for taming the unruly beast , 1997 .

[61]  Sanna Talja,et al.  Constituting “information” and “user” as research objects: a theory of knowledge formations as an alternative to the information man-theory , 1997 .

[62]  T. D. Wilson,et al.  Information behaviour: an interdisciplinary perspective , 1997, Inf. Process. Manag..

[63]  K C Carriere,et al.  Information needs and decisional preferences in women with breast cancer. , 1997, JAMA.

[64]  Robert M. Losee,et al.  A Discipline Independent Definition of Information , 1997, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[65]  A. Antonovsky.  The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion , 1996 .

[66]  Bryce Allen,et al.  Information Tasks: Toward a User-Centered Approach to Information Systems , 1996 .

[67]  Jeffrey A. Sloan,et al.  The information needs of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. , 1995, Journal of advanced nursing.

[68]  Reijo Savolainen.  Everyday life information seeking: Approaching information seeking in the context of “way of life” , 1995 .

[69]  Reijo Savolainen,et al.  The Sense-Making Theory: Reviewing the Interests of a User-Centred Approach to Information Seeking and Use , 1993, Inf. Process. Manag..

[70]  Carol Collier Kuhlthau,et al.  Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective , 1991, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[71]  S. Folkman,et al.  Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[72]  Georgia R Glenn,et al.  Nursing: Concepts of Practice , 1981 .

[73]  S. Folkman,et al.  [An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample]. , 1980, Kango kenkyu. The Japanese journal of nursing research.

[74]  B. Cassileth,et al.  Information and participation preferences among cancer patients. , 1980, Annals of internal medicine.

[75]  M. Knowles.  The adult learner : a neglected species , 1979 .

[76]  Diane Nahl,et al.  Social-biological information technology: An integrated conceptual framework , 2007, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[77]  Carmen G. Loiselle,et al.  Health InformationSeeking Behavior , 2007 .

[78]  T. D. Wilson,et al.  On user studies and information needs , 2006, J. Documentation.

[79]  Ping Zhang,et al.  Understanding Information Related Fields : A Conceptual Framework , 2006 .

[80]  Barbara M. Wildemuth,et al.  Perspectives on the tasks in which information behaviors are embedded. , 2005 .

[81]  Marcia J. Bates,et al.  Information and knowledge: an evolutionary framework for information science (Invited paper) , 2005, Inf. Res..

[82]  Heidi E. Julien,et al.  Intra-individual information behaviour in daily life , 2004, Inf. Process. Manag..

[83]  Barbara Niedzwiedzka,et al.  A proposed general model of information behaviour , 2003, Inf. Res..

[84]  Jannica Heinström,et al.  Five personality dimensions and their influence on information behaviour , 2003, Inf. Res..

[85]  Peter Jarvis,et al.  The theory & practice of learning , 2003 .

[86]  J. Eccles,et al.  Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. , 2002, Annual review of psychology.

[87]  A. Christensen,et al.  Psychological factors in end-stage renal disease: an emerging context for behavioral medicine research. , 2002 .

[88]  R. Friend,et al.  Improving adjustment to chronic illness through strategic self-presentation: an experimental study on a renal dialysis unit. , 1999, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[89]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  Trends in Analyzing Access to Information. Part I: Cross-Disciplinary Conceptualizations of Access , 1999, Inf. Process. Manag..

[90]  Paul Solomon,et al.  Discovering Information Behavior in Sense Making: III. The Person , 1997, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[91]  D. Gustafson,et al.  The relationship between meeting patients' information needs and their satisfaction with hospital care and general health status outcomes. , 1996, International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care.

[92]  Elfreda A. Chatman,et al.  Life in a small world: Applicability of gratification theory to information-seeking behavior , 1991, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[93]  B. Dervin,et al.  Information needs and uses. , 1986 .

[94]  Glynn Harmon,et al.  The measurement of information , 1984, Inf. Process. Manag..

[95]  Richard L. Derr.  A conceptual analysis of information need , 1983, Inf. Process. Manag..

[96]  James Krikelas.  Information-Seeking Behavior: Patterns and Concepts. , 1983 .

[97]  S. P. Akpabio.  World Health Organisation , 1983, British Dental Journal.

[98]  A. Deutsch,et al.  The Encyclopedia of mental health , 1970 .