Comparison of Consumer Evaluation by Sources of Health Information

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Each consumer uses different consumer evaluation by sources of health information, considering the influences of consumers' socio-demographic characteristics, health status, attitude to health, and types of health information needed. METHODS: Sources of health information include web-based resources, health professionals, and publications such as medical books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Data were collected from 1,189 respondents through a telephone survey, among whom 513(43%) responses were finally included in the analysis. The results were analysed by statistical methods including Chi-square, multiple regression, and correlation analyses. RESULTS: Key findings are as follows. First, there were significant differences in evaluation results by different sources of health information. Access to health professionals shows positive outcomes in general, followed by web-based resource. Second, the significant factors related to the access outcomes were different in each domains such as easiness, amount, understanding, reliability, and helpfulness. In addition, while access to health professionals was found to have significant influence on health behavior by improving the ability of health management, access to internet improved only the understanding of health information. CONCLUSION: Access to health professionals for health information was positively related to utilization outcomes in general, but access to publications was negatively related to outcomes. Despite the increase in the number of web-based users, they could not rely on the information they found. To effectively utilize various sources of health information and improve the nation's health by providing appropriate health information, quality assurance strategy for contents in health information websites and active intervention by health professionals should be pursued.