Characterizing active acquirers and communicators of health information for health promotion intervention in the community

Abstract

The aim of this study was to clarify 1) the proportion of active information acquirers or communicators of health information in the community, and 2) the characteristics of active information acquirers. Our target population consisted of community residents aged 20 to 75 years, living in the city of Koka. We distributed 4,735 questionnaires by mail, and conducted stratified random samplings by age group in the five former town areas. The 2,207 valid questionnaires were used for analysis (the valid response rate was 46.6%). Respondents were classified into the aforementioned 4 groups, and the data was comparatively analyzed among the active acquirer/communicator group (AACG, 32.9%), the active acquirer group (AAG, 11.1%), the active communicator group (ACG, 5.4%) and the inactive acquirer/communicator group (IACG, 50.5%). For the purpose of clarifying the characteristics of people who actively acquire and communicate information, a multinominal logistic regression analysis between 4 groups was performed using the IACG as the reference group. The AACG was predominantly female, aged 60 or over, had physical checkups once a year or more, was higher degree of neighborly ties, participated in social activities, and had a greater sense of cooperation with the municipality. we believe that properly approaching the AAG and the ACG, will promote the dissemination of information, and could lead to the implementation of more effective and efficient health promotion programs.