Promoting health information-seeking behaviour prior to vaccination decisions

Previous research consistently links vaccination knowledge with increased vaccination intention and uptake. However, many health campaigns rely on one-way communication, limiting patient engagement. Patient-centered care promotes active health information-seeking, enabling informed vaccination decisions. This study series developed and evaluated novel interventions to encourage active health information-seeking behaviour and assessed their impact on vaccination and infectious disease knowledge.

In Study 1, we created and tested a behavioural paradigm simulating a health website where participants searched for information before making a fictitious vaccination decision. Study 2 compared three theory-informed interventions to promote information seeking (notetaking, gamification with badges, and social comparison) to a control condition. Study 3 tested an enhanced gamification intervention that also incentivised knowledge acquisition.

Across studies, active information-seeking correlated with greater knowledge, and perceived knowledge predicted higher vaccination likelihood. In Study 2, all interventions increased time spent seeking information versus control, but only gamification increased the number of thematic sections viewed. In Study 3, the enhanced gamification intervention further improved information-seeking and knowledge.

Promoting information-seeking may support informed vaccination decisions. Interactive, web-based interventions, especially gamified ones, can boost engagement and knowledge. The behavioural paradigm offers a robust, adaptable tool for measuring health information-seeking.