Hispanics' use of Internet health information: an exploratory study

Purpose: The research examined use of the Internet to seek health information among Hispanics in the United States.Methods: A secondary analysis used the Impact of the Internet and Advertising on Patients and Physicians, 2000–2001, survey data. Pearson''s χ² test, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and independent samples t tests were conducted to test for relationships and differences between facets of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white online health information seeking.Results: Findings indicated lower Internet health information seeking among Hispanics (28.9%, n=72) than non-Hispanic whites (35.6%, n=883). On a scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree), Hispanics were likely to agree that Internet health information improves understanding of medical conditions and treatments (M=1.65), gives patients confidence to talk to doctors about health concerns (M=1.67), and helps patients get treatment they would not otherwise receive (M=2.23). Hispanics viewed their skills in assessing Internet health information as good. Overall ratings were also positive for items related to sharing Internet health information with a doctor. Conflicting with these findings, Hispanics (M=3.33) and non-Hispanic whites (M=3.46) reported that physician-patient relationships worsened as a result of bringing online health information to a visit (scale 1=a lot better to 5=a lot worse).Conclusion: This study provides further evidence of differences in Internet health information seeking among Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. Cultural discordance may be a possible explanation for Hispanics'' view that the Internet negatively impacts physician-patient relationships. Strategies to increase Hispanics'' access to Internet health information will likely help them become empowered and educated consumers, potentially having a favorable impact on health outcomes.

Highlights

• Consistent with prior studies, a lower proportion of Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic whites reported using the Internet to seek health information.
• Overall, Hispanics tended to agree that the Internet is a helpful resource for health information.
• Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites reported that bringing Internet health information to doctors'' visits worsened the physician-patient relationship.
• Consistent with prior literature, the odds of seeking Internet health information were decreased for Hispanics with low (<$25,000) and middle ($25,000– $49,000) household incomes.

Implications

• More studies are needed to provide evidence to develop culturally appropriate interventions to examine differences in Internet use and potential digital disparities among Hispanics.
• Concurrent with increasing Hispanics'' use of Internet health information, efforts to address the Internet''s impact on physician-patient relationship are warranted.

     

Web usage mining at an academic health sciences library: an exploratory study.

OBJECTIVES: This paper explores the potential of multinomial logistic regression analysis to perform Web usage mining for an academic health sciences library Website. METHODS: Usage of database-driven resource gateway pages was logged for a six-month period, including information about users' network addresses, referring uniform resource locators (URLs), and types of resource accessed. RESULTS: It was found that referring URL did vary significantly by two factors: whether a user was on-campus and what type of resource was accessed. CONCLUSIONS: Although the data available for analysis are limited by the nature of the Web and concerns for privacy, this method demonstrates the potential for gaining insight into Web usage that supplements Web log analysis. It can be used to improve the design of static and dynamic Websites today and could be used in the design of more advanced Web systems in the future.     

Information in primary health care

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Full-text and bibliographic database searching in the health sciences: an exploratory study comparing CCML and MEDLINE

An exploratory study to investigate perceived differences between searching full-text databases and bibliographic databases was undertaken. BRS's full-text database, Comprehensive Core Medical Library (CCML), and BRS's current MEDLINE file (MESH) were compared. Identical literature search topics were run in the two databases and the results evaluated regarding currency of search results, success in answering specific questions, uniqueness of information retrieved, and relevancy of retrieval. Additionally, connect time and costs were noted to aid in determining the feasibility of offering full-text database searching as a service for which the authors' institution would charge.     

Authorship conflict in Bangladesh: an exploratory study

This study aimed to explore the causes, types, and consequences of authorship conflicts among the researchers of selected research institutions in Dhaka, Bangladesh; and to suggest ways to reduce conflicts. A sample of 100 researchers was given a semi‐structured questionnaire; 45 subjects responded. The responses were confidential and anonymous. Over two‐thirds of the respondents were aware of authorship conflicts, and one‐third had actually faced conflicts with their co‐authors. Of them, four faced conflicts with their juniors, while 13 faced conflicts with their seniors or supervisors. The primary causes of such conflicts appear to be unethical claims of authorship, violation of authorship order, and deprivation of authorship. In most cases, the victims became frustrated and had to give up, and avoided a direct clash to safeguard their job. Four respondents claimed to have been victimized for raising their voice. Conflict was never resolved in seven cases. To reduce conflicts, respondents suggested that authorship should be decided before the study begins, order of authorship must be determined according to contribution, and a standard code of authorship should be followed strictly. Authorship conflicts arise among researchers mostly due to what they regard as unethical practice of their co‐authors, supervisors, and department heads in the absence of any formal authorship policy in the institutions. A standard code of authorship, sensitization of researchers to the problem through open discussions and advocacy, and formation of a grievance redress committee are suggested to minimize such conflicts. Although the sample size was small, some of the specific recommendations will be appropriate in many other cases.     

Clinicians' satisfaction with Grateful Med: an exploratory study

End-user search software is designed to simplify online searching for the casual searcher. User-friendly features provide relatively easy online access to remote databases without the need for expert search systems. At issue is whether the simplified features of such software compromise what is potentially retrievable, and if so, whether the missing information is critical to the end user. A study was designed to address this question, particularly as applied to clinicians using a user-friendly search software package such as Grateful Med. Clinician participants compared their Grateful Med search results with a full Elhill search (as performed by an intermediary) and indicated whether references unique to either search were or were not critical to their information needs.     

Quality improvement and health care: an annotated bibliography

W. Edwards Deming's theories of continuous quality improvement, using statistical analysis to identify problems or errors in operational processes, are in the early stages of development in service organizations after substantial success in industry, especially in Japan. Information on continuous quality improvement for libraries is sparse. The articles in this annotated bibliography will help interested readers learn more about this theory and its application in the health care business.     

Searching for an image conveying connotative meanings: An exploratory cross-cultural study

On the basis of the semiotics premise, this exploratory study examined cultural influences that pertain to the image search process when users have connotative needs. The study used the Semantic Differential, a quantitative tool for measuring affective reactions, as well as word-based analysis, to analyze responses to a survey questionnaire administered to twelve Korean and twelve American students. The results demonstrated that even when completing the same task, participants from different backgrounds have different tendencies in expecting and selecting a relevant image. The results supported the semiotics assertion that cultural context results in variations in interpreting the connotative messages of an image, and these variations are restricted by cultural boundaries. The study underlined the potential of using the Semantic Differential to enhance accessibility to connotative messages during the image retrieval process. Based on the findings, some suggestions for image retrieval system design were discussed. This study will broaden understanding of connotative messages in terms of image retrieval and user behaviors. The conclusions will contribute to designing a practical image retrieval system that can provide subject access to connotative messages.     

University students’ perceptions of the Internet: an exploratory study

Focus group participants are more sophisticated in their perceptions and appreciation of both Internet resources and traditional library resources than was hypothesized. They do not, however, associate the Internet with the library and do not think of asking a librarian for help when using the Internet for research.     

Cultural influences on seeking quality health information: An exploratory study of the Korean community

Consumer health information-seeking behavior of members of a local Korean community in Tallahassee, Florida, was explored through semi-structured interviews. Questions explored how this community assessed the quality of health information, and what cultural values influenced their understanding of its quality. Accuracy and reliability were identified as the two most valuable quality characteristics. A commercial type of webpage was considered as a negative indicator for reliability, while information described in detail or displayed reiteratively was a positive indicator. In addition to functional quality criteria, nonfunctional characteristics such as sympathy were found. Above all, findings highlighted that cultural differences limited the use of health information. Quality based selection of information is an important part of a health information seeking process. Findings can give the designers of Web-based consumer health information systems important insights into how to support evaluation of the quality of health information by consumers, and how to reduce barriers to health information seeking and use caused by cultural differences.     

The information requirements and information-seeking behaviours of health and social care professionals providing care to children with health care needs: a pilot study

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Content strategy in LibGuides: An exploratory study

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Mapping the literature of health care management: an update

Objective:This study aims to identify the core journals cited in the health care management literature and to determine their coverage in the foremost bibliographic databases used by the discipline.Methods:Using the methodology outlined by the Medical Library Association''s Nursing and Allied Health Resource Section (NAHRS) protocol for “Mapping the Literature of Nursing and Allied Health Professions,” this study updates an earlier study published in 2007. Cited references from articles published in a three-year range (2016–2018) were collected from five health care management journals. Using Bradford''s Law of Scattering, cited journal titles were tabulated and ranked according to the number of times cited. Eleven databases were used to determine coverage of the most highly cited journal titles for all source journals, as well as for a subset of practitioner-oriented journals.Results:The most highly cited sources were journals, followed by government documents, Internet resources, books, and miscellaneous resources. The databases with the most complete coverage of Zone 1 and 2 were Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and PubMed, while the worst performing databases were Health Business Elite, ABI/Inform, and Business Source Complete.Conclusions:The literature of health care management has expanded rapidly in the last decade, with cumulative citations increasing by 76.6% and the number of cited journal titles increasing by nearly 70% since the original study. Coverage of the core journals in popular databases remains high, although specialized health care management and business databases did not perform as well as general or biomedical databases.     

Evaluation of the KA24 (Knowledge Access 24) service for health and social care staff in London and the south-east of England. Part 2: qualitative

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this two-part paper is to identify the main transferable lessons learned from both the quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the KA24 (Knowledge Access 24) service of online databases and selected full-text journals for health and social care staff in London and the south-east of England. The objectives of the qualitative evaluation were to assess the enablers and barriers to usage, and to assess the impact of the service on patient care. METHODS: Telephone interviews (n = 65) and a questionnaire survey (n = 296) were conducted with various types of user, in various Trust settings. Some non-users were also contacted. Selection of interviewees and questionnaire recipients was not random, and aimed to cover all groups of users representatively. RESULTS: Results show that policy goals were being delivered, with indications of changes to clinical practice, and improved clinical governance. Promotion, training and support needs to be extensive, and tailored to needs, but users are not always aware they need training. The sharing of passwords cast doubts on the reliability of some usage data. CONCLUSIONS: Digital health library services, delivered at the point of care, are changing the way some clinicians practise. A combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods are needed to assess digital library services.