Understanding the information journeys of late-life migrants to inform support design: Information seeking driven by a major life transition

Abstract

Little is known about the information behaviors of older migrants who migrate later-in-life and their settlement experiences in the host country. Through the intersectional lens of information behavior in transition theory and the information journey framework, this article reports on a qualitative study investigating the information behaviors of late-life migrants who recently migrated to Australia. A narrative inquiry was conducted with 22 older Chinese migrants (aged 67 on average) who participated in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, yielding 269 pages of the transcripts and notes for analysis. Older Chinese migrants’ information behaviors were demonstrated as a five-stage information journey model driven by information seeking for migration, involving the identification of primary concerns of living, the orientation of the new setting and local information landscapes, response to the new information reality, and reconstruction of information landscapes across the transitional phases of understanding, negotiating, and resolving. The findings expand the knowledgebase on information behavior in the significant transition of late-life migration and a life event-oriented information journey. Practical implications are provided for information interventions and support that may be useful at different stages of information journey in transition.