Abstract
BackgroundSeeking online health information (OHI) has become a common practice globally. The information seekers could face health risks if they are not proficient in OHI literacy. The OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of Chinese college students, the largest proportion of college students in the world, are understudied. This study was aimed to describe OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of college students in Guangdong, China.MethodsCollege students in the Guangdong province with OHI-seeking experience were invited via WeChat, QQ, and Sina Weibo using QR code posters and flyers for participation in this online anonymized questionnaire-based study. Data on demographics, OHI literacy, information resources, search approaches, and behaviors were collected. The relationship between perceived OHI literacy and high-risk behaviors was investigated by bivariate logistic regression analysis.ResultsRespondents were 1203 college students with a mean age of 20.6 years, females (60.2%), and undergraduates (97.2%). They sought health information via websites (20.3%), WeChat (2.6%), or both (77.1%). Baidu was the main search engine, and baike.baidu.com (80.3%), Zhihu.com (48.4%), and Zhidao.baidu.com (35.8%) were top three among 20 searched websites for information about self-care (80.7%), general health (79.5%), disease prevention (77.7%), self-medication (61.2%), family treatment (40.9%), drugs (37.7%), western medications (26.6%), hospitals (22.7%), physicians (21.4%), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (15.6%). Despite most respondents (78%) lacked confidence in the evidence quality and satisfaction with the results, only 32.4% further consulted doctors. Many (> 50%) would recommend the retrieved information to others. About 20% experienced hacking/Internet fraud. Cronbach’s alpha for the internal consistency of OHI literacy was 0.786. Bivariate logistic regression analysis showed that students who believed they can judge the evidence level of OHI were more likely to self-diagnose (OR = 2.2, 95%CI, 1.6–3.1) and look for drug usage (OR = 3.1, 95%CI, 1.9–5.0).ConclusionsThis study reveals Chinese college students’ heavy reliance on OHI to manage their own and others’ health without sufficient knowledge/skills to identify misinformation and disinformation. The apparent risky information-seeking behaviors of Chinese college students warrant the provision of regulated, accurate, and actionable health information; assurance of cybersecurity; and health information literacy promotion in colleges by concerned authorities.
Highlights
Seeking online health information (OHI) has become a common practice globally
This study reveals Chinese college students’ heavy reliance on OHI to manage their own and others’ health without sufficient knowledge/skills to identify misinformation and disinformation
According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNI C), there are 829 million Internet users as of December 2018 in China with mobile internet usage accounting for 98.6% [1], but their Internet usage for health information is unknown
Summary
The information seekers could face health risks if they are not proficient in OHI literacy. This study was aimed to describe OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of college students in Guangdong, China. The Internet hosts a tremendous amount and variety of health-related information that can be accessed at convenience, anonymity, and relatively low cost. Information seekers, can obtain health information and explore other services as well depending on their motivation of going online, with the resultant outcome as self-efficacy (the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals) in decision making or seeking further professional help [1]. Seeking online health information (OHI) has become a common practice globally. According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNI C), there are 829 million Internet users as of December 2018 in China with mobile internet usage accounting for 98.6% [1], but their Internet usage for health information is unknown
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