Health-related information seeking: Is it worth it?

• Published in: Information processing & management Vol. 50; no. 5; pp. 708 - 717
• Main Author: David Johnson, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2014; Elsevier; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Austenitic stainless steels; Avoidance; Consumer health information; Data processing; Design engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Health; Health care; Health-related information seeking; Human information behavior; Ignorance; Information and communication sciences; Information processing and retrieval; Information retrieval systems. Information and document management system; Information retrieval. Man machine relationship; Information science. Documentation; Information seeking; Information seeking behaviour; Information systems; Research process. Evaluation; Sciences and techniques of general use; Strategy; Studies; Systems design; User behavior; Health-related information seeking; Ignorance; Information seeking; Human information behavior; Avoidance; Human; Information use; Biomedical information; Information retrieval; User behavior
• ISSN: 0306-4573; 1873-5371
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ipm.2014.06.001

•The idealized model suggests individuals will pursue rational search strategies.•But people engage in avoidance and denial and other more irrational strategies.•Six conditions are typed by effort and good, contingent, and bad outcomes.•A health care system dependent on proactivity is more and more problematic.•We should revisit policies and systems dominated by the idealized model.
In spite of often compelling reasons for why people should seek information, they persistently engage in lower levels of it than might be expected, at times seeking no information at all. The idealized model reflecting dogged persistence, pursuing rational search strategies, until a high-quality answer is found is often assumed in the design of information systems. However, many people confronted with health problems engage in avoidance and denial, making a health care system dependent on proactivity problematic. This essay explores six conditions, the idealized model, avoidance, bewilderment, serendipity, ignorance is bliss, and indolence, that arise from low and high effort strategies when typed by good, contingent, and bad health outcomes. Since a substantial proportion of the population does not act in accordance with our assumptions, it may be time for policy makers, system designers and researchers to revisit their approaches to facilitating health-related information seeking.