Consumers' expected information search behavior for a pharmaceutical treatment.

Area of Science:

• Health behavior research
• Consumer health informatics
• Psychology

Background:

• The Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS) provides a framework for understanding information-seeking behaviors.
• Identifying factors influencing health information seeking is crucial for effective healthcare interventions.
• Previous research has not fully explored predictors of pharmaceutical treatment information search behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify factors influencing consumers' expected information search behavior for pharmaceutical treatments.
• To examine the predictive utility of these factors for refining the CMIS.
• To enhance understanding of health information seeking in a consumer context.

Main Methods:

• A telephone survey was conducted with 2,186 adult residents in a southern U.S. state.
• Data collected included expected information search for pharmaceutical treatments, self-rated health (SRH), extraversion, and demographics.
• Logistic regression analysis was used to identify significant predictors of information-seeking behavior.

Main Results:

• Of the 505 participants, 14% expected to seek information for a pharmaceutical treatment.
• Lower self-rated health (SRH) was a significant negative predictor of information seeking (p < 0.05).
• Being female was a significant positive predictor of information seeking (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Consumers with poorer self-rated health and women are more likely to search for pharmaceutical treatment information.
• Findings suggest modifications to the CMIS for health information seeking.
• Implications for targeted healthcare interventions and patient education are discussed.