The future state of patient engagement? Personal health information use, attitudes towards health, and health behavior.

Abstract

The past decade has given rise to interest in the effects of health care information on personal well-being. However, investigations to-date typically centered on mass communication programs in health rather than on individuals’ psychosocial characteristics, agency, and behaviors associated with their engagement with this information. Considering this gap, we examined whether the availability of personal health information is associated with health prevention behaviors in the United States. Using multivariable path analysis and data from the 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey, we investigate whether the use of personal health information is associated with positive, preventative health behaviors (healthy eating, tobacco smoking, and exercise), and if this relationship is mediated by patient confidence in their ability to care for themselves and by their self-perceived health status. Findings indicate that the use of health information, at low levels, is important for improving patient attitudes regarding their health status and confidence in caring for themselves. Perceived health-status and patient confidence, in turn, are associated with preventative health behaviors. Notably, too much information does not necessarily result in positive health behaviors among patients. Organizations may wish to critically assess how much information they make readily available to the populations they serve.