Health information seeking behavior and related factors among adults in Hue city, Vietnam

Abstract

Nowadays, health information seeking is gradually becoming an indispensable demand and playing a very important role in the social life. Our study had 2 objectives: (1) To describe Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB) and (2) To examine related factors influencing HISB among study participants. This was a cross-sectional study conducted from 10/2018 to 10/2019. Samples were 814 adults aged from 18 from 4 various wards in Hue City, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. Study indicated that 77.0% of participants had needs and had practiced HISB. Of these, merely 32.3% had right knowledge about this behavior. Medical staffs were considered as the most reliable source of information (75.3%), but only 47.4% of people had accessed to this channel. The most popular source of information is Internet (62.7%). Health information topics which were highly sought include: signs of disease (78.6%), treatment strategies (77.5%) and nutrition (75.9%). The related factors affecting the HISB of people were: education, self-reported health status, doctor-reported health status and knowledge about HISB. The demand forhealth information of people is high. Relevant ministries and agencies should launch more positive policies for people to access the ofcial health information sources that are appropriate for their health status.