Information Seeking Process Research Articles

Experiences of health information-seeking behaviour in preoperative patients with lung cancer: a qualitative study in China.

Surgery represents the primary therapeutic modality for lung cancer, typically administered promptly following diagnosis. Accessing pertinent information and making well-informed decisions are imperative to navigate this challenging stage. This study aimed to explore preoperative lung cancer patients' experiences related to health information-seeking process, based on the information and methodological characteristics of health information-seeking behaviour (HISB). The study used a qualitative descriptive design, adhering to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines. 23 participants were purposively selected for semistructured interviews. Data analysis was conducted using inductive conventional content analysis. The study was conducted in the thoracic surgery ward of a tertiary hospital located in China. A total of 23 participants, consisting of 12 males and 11 females, were recruited. Eligible participants were patients with lung cancer aged 18 and above, capable of articulate expression, informed about their diagnosis, preparing for surgical intervention and willing to engage voluntarily in the study. Four main categories were identified. Participants exhibited different psychological coping strategies and personalised health information needs in their information-seeking behaviour. Challenges emerged in comprehending and assessing factors related to lung cancer, treatment alternatives, surgical complications, online media resources and preoperative exercise protocols. The importance of preoperative respiratory training was often underestimated. Additionally, some participants displayed a tendency to passively receive information, thereby impeding their ability to effectively self-manage throughout the perioperative stage. Understanding the experiences in HISB is crucial for improving the health outcomes of patients with lung cancer. Healthcare providers should adopt a patient-centred approach to health education, with a targeted effort to recognise and mitigate specific barriers in clinical practice. Further research is needed to explore effective strategies aimed at augmenting health information-seeking process among patients with lung cancer before surgery.

Experience-Sharing to Support Inclusive Travel for Blind and Partially Sighted People

This research aimed to understand the challenges blind and partially sighted people experience in tourism and the travel information they need to plan their travel experiences effectively. To this end, we designed a mixed-methods study consisting of semi-structured interviews and co-design workshops, which were conducted to identify the needs of BPS people and the barriers experienced due to a lack of access to such information. The findings provide insights into the information-seeking process and highlight the role of experience sharing in cultivating a sense of agency, contribution, and interdependence. This study also contributes an accessible tourism ecosystem map based on our findings to highlight the different sources of travel information and their potential role in supporting inclusive travel for BPS people. The findings have implications for research and tourism service design and serve as a tool to motivate research on technologies to support inclusive leisure travel for BPS people and to inform the design of inclusive tourism services.

Enhancing Reflective and Conversational User Engagement in Argumentative Dialogues with Virtual Agents

In their process of information seeking, human users tend to selectively ignore information that contradicts their pre-existing beliefs or opinions. These so-called “self-imposed filter bubbles” (SFBs) pose a significant challenge for argumentative conversational agents aiming to facilitate critical, unbiased opinion formation on controversial topics. With the ultimate goal of developing a system that helps users break their self-imposed filter bubbles (SFBs), this paper aims to investigate the role of co-speech gestures, specifically examining how these gestures significantly contribute to achieving this objective. This paper extends current research by examining methods to engage users in cooperative discussions with a virtual human-like agent, encouraging a deep reflection on arguments to disrupt SFBs. Specifically, we investigate the agent’s non-verbal behavior in the form of co-speech gestures. We analyze whether co-speech gestures, depending on the conveyed information, enhance motivation, and thus conversational user engagement, thereby encouraging users to consider information that could potentially disrupt their SFBs. The findings of a laboratory study with 56 participants highlight the importance of non-verbal agent behaviors, such as co-speech gestures, in improving users’ perceptions of the interaction and the conveyed content. This effect is particularly notable when the content aims to challenge the user’s SFB. Therefore, this research offers valuable insights into enhancing user engagement in the design of multimodal interactions with future cooperative argumentative virtual agents.

Information-seeking behaviour of primary care clinicians in Singapore at the point-of-care: A qualitative study.

Clinicians' information-seeking behaviours impact patient care quality. Earlier studies indicated that barriers to accessing information deter clinicians from seeking answers to clinical questions. To explore primary care clinicians' information-seeking behaviour at point-of-care, focusing on when and how they seek answers to clinical questions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 clinicians after clinical sessions to investigate their information-seeking habits. Follow-up interviews were conducted after a week for those intending to address unanswered queries. Two thirds of clinicians encountered questions during care, with nearly three quarters resolving them during the session. Colleagues, guidelines and online platforms were common information sources, with smartphones being used to access Google, WhatsApp or UpToDate®. Facilitators included reliable sources and the drive to confirm knowledge, while barriers included ineffective search methods and high workload. Despite challenges, most clinicians expressed satisfaction with their information-seeking process. The findings underscore the increasing use of smartphones for accessing clinical information among Singaporean primary care clinicians and suggest the need for tailored training programmes and guidelines to optimise information-seeking practices. Insights from this study can inform the development of training programmes and guidelines aimed at improving information-seeking practices among primary care clinicians, potentially enhancing patient care quality.

“What le phoque?!”

This study explores the information behaviour of staff working in postsecondary education who write work emails in second-language French (L2). The article is inspired by existing research in public administration and translation. An exploratory study is conducted through the use of semi-structured interviews. Three participants (n=3), bilingual in English and French, shared their experiences preparing work emails in French and discussed their consultation of internal, online, and social information resources. The findings highlight several themes: linguistic identity, reliance on prior L2 knowledge, use of online tools like DeepL and WordReference, and consultation with Francophone colleagues for complex questions. These themes help to shape a proposed framework based on Byström and Järvelin's (1995) model, elaborating a process of information seeking according to perceived task complexity. The model also invokes Zipf’s Principle of Least Effort, demonstrating participants' interest in minimizing time and effort in consulting information resources, while prioritizing accurate email content. Overall, the study illuminates how individuals in postsecondary roles navigate writing work emails in a learned language, outlining their information behaviour and the relationship between internal and external information resources.

Prompt engineering – a disruption in information seeking?

Purpose The purpose of this column is to inform librarians and other information professionals about prompt engineering (PE) and to challenge them to consider how it relates to the work that they are doing and consider if it might enhance their current ability to serve users. Design/methodology/approach PE is a new job category in the fields of technology and artificial intelligence. Prompt engineers use various approaches to elicit the best possible outputs from large language module technologies such as ChatGPT. This column examines the various elements present in effective prompts and how the skills, knowledge and abilities relate to the work that librarians already do, where there are disruptions and how the field of library and information science may approach studying the emergence and effectiveness of PE in resolving information needs. Findings While PE shares many of the goals, procedures and skillsets that librarians already know and use, it is a disruption in information-seeking processes. It is a highly complex undertaking that requires a mix of knowledge, skills and abilities. If done well, PE will allow information seekers to achieve a whole new level of results both in terms of the information retrieved and the content that is produced based on that information. Originality/value Librarians are currently generally not considered to be prime candidates for PE positions. However, this column introduces the idea that many librarians already have the knowledge, skills, abilities and aptitude to do PE. This may be as prompt engineers or by integrating PE into their existing professional practice.

The collaborative use of career information by young people and career advisers: A thematic content analysis of career counselling records

This study explores the career information-seeking behaviours of young people and career advisers. These are examined through the interrogation of a secondary data set held by Scotland's national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland. Descriptive and frequency analyses of engagement records from career conversations reveal three key characteristics of information seeking in career advisory settings: prompted information seeking; information seeking on young people's behalf and collaborative information seeking. The original contribution of this study lies in two novel research foci: (a) the identification of distinct patterns of career information-seeking behaviours and colloquial language which signifies that information seeking has taken place and (b) the consideration of young people and career advisers’ collaborative information seeking behaviours and their roles and functions within the career information-seeking process. These findings have implications for the improvement of career services and the development of career information, advice and guidance (CIAG) policies.

An Empirical Study on Information Seeking Anxiety and Influence Factors of the Chinese Residents

With the development of technology and the exponential growth of information, information seeking anxiety has been demonstrated as a fundamental, ubiquitous and persistent psychological characteristic. This feeling has caused different cognitive, affective and behavioral effects in information users, which has been identified as one of the biggest impediments to successful completion of information tasks. This paper aims at assessing individual’s emotional experience and its causes in the information seeking process and evaluate the relationship between information seeking anxiety and information task. Additionally, the paper also provides empirical support for public information services and information literacy education.

Abortion information-seeking experiences among women who obtained abortions in Kinshasa, DRC: Results from a qualitative study.

Little is known about the process of seeking information related to abortion care options among women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Understanding how women obtain information can help identify opportunities for intervention to increase awareness and use of safe pregnancy termination options. Using qualitative data collected from women in Kinshasa, DRC who reported having an abortion in the last 10 years, this study aims to determine how women navigate obtaining information about their options for abortion and the role of their social network in their information-seeking processes. Data for this analysis come from a mixed-method study of abortion in Kinshasa conducted from December 2021 to April 2022. Fifty-two qualitative interviews followed a structured interview guide, including open-ended questions and probes, developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers in Kinshasa and the United States. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted using Atlas.ti, and a thematic analysis matrix was used to describe the major themes and subthemes. Thematic analysis revealed two main themes with nested subthemes. The first and most salient theme highlighted the highly selective and narrow information search process women engaged in, involving no others or very few individuals (e.g., partners, women in one's community, or providers) that the pregnant woman chose strategically. The second theme revealed the heterogeneous and often stigmatizing nature of these interactions, including attempts at deterrence from many sources and information of varying completeness and accuracy. While the recent liberalization of the abortion law in the DRC is essential to improve access to safe abortion, public health gains will not materialize unless they are accompanied by community-level actions to raise awareness about the legality and availability of safe abortions services, including medication abortion pills for safe self-managed abortion.

DocFlow: A Visual Analytics System for Question-Based Document Retrieval and Categorization.

A systematic review (SR) is essential with up-to-date research evidence to support clinical decisions and practices. However, the growing literature volume makes it challenging for SR reviewers and clinicians to discover useful information efficiently. Many human-in-the-loop information retrieval approaches (HIR) have been proposed to rank documents semantically similar to users' queries and provide interactive visualizations to facilitate document retrieval. Given that the queries are mainly composed of keywords and keyphrases retrieving documents that are semantically similar to a query does not necessarily respond to the clinician's need. Clinicians still have to review many documents to find the solution. The problem motivates us to develop a visual analytics system, DocFlow, to facilitate information-seeking. One of the features of our DocFlow is accepting natural language questions. The detailed description enables retrieving documents that can answer users' questions. Additionally, clinicians often categorize documents based on their backgrounds and with different purposes (e.g., populations, treatments). Since the criteria are unknown and cannot be pre-defined in advance, existing methods can only achieve categorization by considering the entire information in documents. In contrast, by locating answers in each document, our DocFlow can intelligently categorize documents based on users' questions. The second feature of our DocFlow is a flexible interface where users can arrange a sequence of questions to customize their rules for document retrieval and categorization. The two features of this visual analytics system support a flexible information-seeking process. The case studies and the feedback from domain experts demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of our DocFlow.

To Boost Students Speaking Skill through Mobile Augmented Reality

There has recently been a spike in student enthusiasm in using technology to engage in their study. Augmented reality is one of the technologies that has been determined to be acceptable for usage in educational settings such as science, mathematics, and engineering. As a result, this study looked into the usefulness of employing mobile augmented reality (MAR) to improve students' speaking skills. This study employed a quasi-experimental approach with two groups: control and experimental. They are conducting MAR and traditional instructional methods teaching and learning sessions. According to the findings of this study, students in the experimental group demonstrated considerably higher levels of speaking skills than those in the control group following teaching and learning. Furthermore, this study discovered that MAR can help to highlight student-centered learning, stimulate student interest and curiosity, improve student cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor processes, and increase student involvement in the information-seeking process. It is recommended that educators employ MAR in their teaching and learning since it has effectively improved students' speaking skills and encouraged a better grasp of knowledge

Information-seeking process and clinical scenario solving: introduction of a new tool in nursing education

BackgroundNursing education has recently undergone changes to improve care. These changes require innovative and transformative strategies in nursing education. Search as learning is one of the educational methods this study was conducted to determine the effect of the information searching process on scenario-based learning in nursing students.MethodsThis study is a single group semi-experimental study that was conducted on 38 nursing students in 2021. Students first drew a concept map according to their existing knowledge about two scenarios (diabetes and trauma). The students then searched the medical databases and drew another concept map after the search. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired mean tests and Pearson correlation coefficients.ResultsThe results showed that the mean scores of the participants in the diabetes scenario before and after the search were 18.32 ± 5.50 and 19.13 ± 7.54, respectively, and those in the trauma scenario were 18.58 ± 7.69 and 29.61 ± 7, respectively (P < 0.01). The mean scores of the details of the conceptual map before and after the search in terms of themes, number of levels and relationships were statistically significant. In both scenarios, there was a positive correlation (p < 0.01) between learning and the number of correct webpages (r = 0.74 for trauma and r = 0.64 for diabetes), as well as between search time and the amount of learning (r = 0.77 for trauma and 0.64 for diabetes).ConclusionsThe results showed that search as learning in nursing education scenarios led to student learning. It is recommended that nurse educators use this method as a tool in nursing education to increase students’ awareness and develop their thinking skills. Further research is recommended to determine the effectiveness of this method with other educational methods.

The Role of Academic Librarians in Providing Assistance to Postgraduate Students in the Information-Seeking Process

In today’s information environment, characterized by the availability of information and information overload, navigating successfully both in everyday life and in an educational setting poses a challenge. Given this, one can assume that postgraduate students, within such an environment, face various difficulties in seeking and using relevant information for scientific research, as well as throughout their postgraduate studies in general, requiring assistance in this prolonged process. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of existing knowledge on the traditional and evolving role of academic librarians in the research process of postgraduate students. Additionally, this paper will clarify the concept of zones of intervention by Carol Kuhlthau, which can serve as a framework for instructing this user group. The purpose of this paper is to prompt librarians to reflect on how academic libraries currently contribute to the educational experience and research work of postgraduate students and to emphasize the importance of adapting and enhancing information and library services, the significance of collaboration between academic librarians and supervisors (and/or other postgraduate faculty members), and the active involvement of academic librarians in the information literacy of postgraduate students.

Multi-objective genetic programming strategies for topic-based search with a focus on diversity and global recall

Topic-based search systems retrieve items by contextualizing the information seeking process on a topic of interest to the user. A key issue in topic-based search of text resources is how to automatically generate multiple queries that reflect the topic of interest in such a way that precision, recall, and diversity are achieved. The problem of generating topic-based queries can be effectively addressed by Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms, which have shown promising results. However, two common problems with such an approach are loss of diversity and low global recall when combining results from multiple queries. This work proposes a family of Multi-Objective Genetic Programming strategies based on objective functions that attempt to maximize precision and recall while minimizing the similarity among the retrieved results. To this end, we define three novel objective functions based on result set similarity and on the information theoretic notion of entropy. Extensive experiments allow us to conclude that while the proposed strategies significantly improve precision after a few generations, only some of them are able to maintain or improve global recall. A comparative analysis against previous strategies based on Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms, indicates that the proposed approach is superior in terms of precision and global recall. Furthermore, when compared to query-term-selection methods based on existing state-of-the-art term-weighting schemes, the presented Multi-Objective Genetic Programming strategies demonstrate significantly higher levels of precision, recall, and F1-score, while maintaining competitive global recall. Finally, we identify the strengths and limitations of the strategies and conclude that the choice of objectives to be maximized or minimized should be guided by the application at hand.

Information needs of patients with atopic eczema-aqualitative study

Often patient information in atopic eczema (AE) does not meet the criteria of evidence-based patient information. What are the information needs of affected patients? The aim of the study was to analyze opinions and experiences of AE patients regarding their personal information needs. In all, 16semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients with AE based on an interview guide. Subsequently the audio-taped interviews were transcribed and analyzed using deductive-inductive methods. Standards of qualitative research were ensured using the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). In all, 21persons participated in the 16interviews, including patients and relatives. Gender ratio was 2 : 1 (female/male); age varied between 19and 75years. The interviews revealed agap in care for patient information about AE. Especially the lack of time in the physician-patients encounter was criticized. Many of the affected felt left alone and forced to take amore active role in the search for information and therapy itself. Depending on stage and duration of the disease, some persons had the impression that their search for information was too time-consuming in relation to the possible benefits. Patients perceived their doctor to be the most important contact person during the information seeking process. Within our study group, feeling alack of acaring contact person as well as alack of knowledge often led to not complying with astandardized, guideline-orientated therapy and of self-treatment. Filling this care gap seems to be an important approach to optimized patient care.

Understanding Trust Determinants in a Live Chat Service on Familial Cancer: Qualitative Triangulation Study With Focus Groups and Interviews in Germany.

In dealing with familial cancer risk, seeking web-based health information can be a coping strategy for different stakeholder groups (ie, patients, relatives, and those suspecting an elevated familial cancer risk). In the vast digital landscape marked by a varied quality of web-based information and evolving technologies, trust emerges as a pivotal factor, guiding the process of health information seeking and interacting with digital health services. This trust formation in health information can be conceptualized as context dependent and multidimensional, involving 3 key dimensions: information seeker (trustor), information provider (trustee), and medium or platform (application). Owing to the rapid changes in the digital context, it is critical to understand how seekers form trust in new services, given the interplay among these different dimensions. An example of such a new service is a live chat operated by physicians for the general public with personalized cancer-related information and a focus on familial cancer risk. To gain a comprehensive picture of trust formation in a cancer-related live chat service, this study investigates the 3 dimensions of trust-trustor, trustee, and application-and their respective relevant characteristics based on a model of trust in web-based health information. In addition, the study aims to compare these characteristics across the 3 different stakeholder groups, with the goal to enhance the service's trustworthiness for each group. This qualitative study triangulated the different perspectives of medical cancer advisers, advisers from cancer support groups, and members of the public in interviews and focus group discussions to explore the 3 dimensions of trust-trustor, trustee, and application-and their determinants for a new live chat service for familial cancer risk to be implemented at the German Cancer Information Service. The results indicate that experience with familial cancer risk is the key trustor characteristic to using, and trusting information provided by, the live chat service. The live chat might also be particularly valuable for people from minority groups who have unmet needs from physician-patient interactions. Participants highlighted trustee characteristics such as ability, benevolence, integrity, and humanness (ie, not a chatbot) as pivotal in a trustworthy cancer live chat service. Application-related characteristics, including the reputation of the institution, user-centric design, modern technology, and visual appeal, were also deemed essential. Despite the different backgrounds and sociodemographics of the 3 stakeholder groups, many overlaps were found among the 3 trust dimensions and their respective characteristics. Trust in a live chat for cancer information is formed by different dimensions and characteristics of trust. This study underscores the importance of understanding trust formation in digital health services and suggests potential enhancements for effective, trustworthy interactions in live chat services (eg, by providing biographies of the human medical experts to differentiate them from artificial intelligence chatbots).

Information processing likelihood, eHealth literacy, and complexity of seeking strategies as predictors of health decision-making quality

eHEALS is one of the most prevalent scales used to measure eHealth literacy. However, significant criticism toward its conceptualization had raised. This study tests the effects of eHEALS alongside constructs from the elaboration likelihood model and information seeking processes, within a multidimensional model to predict medical decision-making quality. We test this model using a sample of 56 participants who completed a 45-minute online simulation task, requiring them to offer recommendation for a hypothetical medical scenario. Findings revealed that neither eHealth literacy nor elaboration likelihood independently predicted decision quality. However, eHEALS was positively associated with higher decision quality, but only among participants who had greater motivation and ability to process health information, and who used more complex information seeking strategies. Findings suggest that the eHEALS measure can be examined using a multidimensional theoretical approach to illustrate the ways in which patients obtain and utilize health information to make informed decisions.

Into the Unknown: Exploration of Search Engines’ Responses to Users with Depression and Anxiety

Researchers worldwide have explored the behavioral nuances that emerge from interactions of individuals afflicted by mental health disorders (MHD) with persuasive technologies, mainly social media. Yet, there is a gap in the analysis pertaining to a persuasive technology that is part of their everyday lives: web search engines (SE). Each day, users with MHD embark on information seeking journeys using popular SE, like Google or Bing. Every step of the search process for better or worse has the potential to influence a searcher’s mindset. In this work, we empirically investigate what subliminal stimulus SE present to these vulnerable individuals during their searches. For this, we use synthetic queries to produce associated query suggestions and search engine results pages. Then we infer the subliminal stimulus present in text from SE, i.e., query suggestions, snippets, and web resources. Findings from our empirical analysis reveal that the subliminal stimulus displayed by SE at different stages of the information seeking process differ between MHD searchers and our control group composed of “average” SE users. Outcomes from this work showcase open problems related to query suggestions, search engine result pages, and ranking that the information retrieval community needs to address so that SE can better support individuals with MHD.

Information behavior of cum laude graduates at Universitas Riau in 2020

Every student has different information behavior, especially cum laude students at Riau University in 2020. Based on graduation percentage, students who hold cum laude predicate amounted to 6,22% of the total graduates in 2020. This research aimed to describe the information behavior of cum laude students at Riau University in 2020 through analysis initiation stage, selection stage, exploration stage, formulation stage, collection stage, and presentation stage. This research was qualitative through the selection of informants was based on the criteria of cum laude students with the highest scores from each faculty. The results showed that the initiation stage was based on motivation, interest, learning strategies, syllabus study, and discussion. In the selection stage, general topics were identified through mind mapping and preliminary information search. The exploration stage was carried out by searching for information in the libraries and others. In the formulation stage, the focus was on finding information with specific content, and there was a sense of optimism about collecting and using that information. The collection stage was carried out by gathering information, paying attention to information retrieval, and evaluating information. The presentation stage showed a sense of satisfaction and the process of sharing information. Every cum laude student experiences unique stages in the information-seeking process. The students at each stage the information behavior have taken advantage of all available sources of information and supported by the motivation within them.

Performance-Based Measurement of eHealth Literacy: Systematic Scoping Review.

eHealth literacy describes the ability to locate, comprehend, evaluate, and apply web-based health information to a health problem. In studies of eHealth literacy, researchers have primarily assessed participants' perceived eHealth literacy using a short self-report instrument, for which ample research has shown little to no association with actual performed eHealth-related skills. Performance-based measures of eHealth literacy may be more effective at assessing actual eHealth skills, yet such measures seem to be scarcer in the literature. The primary purpose of this study was to identify tools that currently exist to measure eHealth literacy based on objective performance. A secondary purpose of this study was to characterize the prevalence of performance-based measurement of eHealth literacy in the literature compared with subjective measurement. We conducted a systematic scoping review of the literature, aligning with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist, in 3 stages: conducting the search, screening articles, and extracting data into a summary table. The summary table includes terminology for eHealth literacy, description of participants, instrument design, health topics used, and a brief note on the evidence of validity for each performance-based measurement tool. A total of 1444 unique articles retrieved from 6 relevant databases (MEDLINE; PsycINFO; CINAHL; Library and Information Science Abstracts [LISA]; Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts [LISTA]; and Education Resources Information Center [ERIC]) were considered for inclusion, of which 313 (21.68%) included a measure of eHealth literacy. Among the 313 articles that included a measure of eHealth literacy, we identified 33 (10.5%) that reported on 29 unique performance-based eHealth literacy measurement tools. The types of tools ranged from having participants answer health-related questions using the internet, having participants engage in simulated internet tasks, and having participants evaluate website quality to quizzing participants on their knowledge of health and the web-based health information-seeking process. In addition, among the 313 articles, we identified 280 (89.5%) that measured eHealth literacy using only a self-rating tool. This study is the first research synthesis looking specifically at performance-based measures of eHealth literacy and may direct researchers toward existing performance-based measurement tools to be applied in future projects. We discuss some of the key benefits and drawbacks of different approaches to performance-based measurement of eHealth literacy. Researchers with an interest in gauging participants' actual eHealth literacy (as opposed to perceived eHealth literacy) should make efforts to incorporate tools such as those identified in this systematic scoping review.