Prevalence, correlates, and sources of women's health information-seeking behaviors in the United States

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence, correlates, and sources of women's health information-seeking behaviors in the United States using the Andersen Behavioral Model.

Methods: The 2012-2019 Health Information National Trends Survey data were used to analyze how and where women seek health theoretically. Weighted prevalence, descriptive analysis, and separate multivariable logistic regression models were computed to test the argument.

Results: The overall prevalence of seeking health information from any source was (83%, 95% CI: 0.82-0.84). Between 2012 and 2019, the analysis revealed a downward trend in health information seeking from any source (85.2-82.4%), health care provider (19.0-14.8%), family/friends (10.4-6.6%), and traditional channels (5.4-4.8%). Interestingly, there was an increase in Internet usage from 65.4% to 73.8%.

Conclusions: We found statistically significant relationships between the predisposing, enabling, and need factors of the Andersen Behavioral Model. Specifically, age, race/ethnicity, income levels, educational status, perceived health status, having a regular provider, and smoking status predicted women's health information-seeking behaviors.

Practice implications: Our study concludes that several factors influence health information-seeking behaviors, and disparities exist in the channels through which women seek care. The implications for health communication strategies, practitioners, and policymakers are also discussed.

Keywords: Access to care; Health care seeking behaviors; Health communication; Internet; Patient-provider communication; Women.