IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i24p13250-d703612.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Undergraduate Students’ Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Wan-Chen Hsu

    (Center for Teaching & Learning Development, National Kaohsiung University of Sciences and Technology, No. 1, University Rd., Yanchao Dist., Kaohsiung City 824, Taiwan)

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, the amount of health-related information available has skyrocketed. Individuals can easily access health information through the internet, which may influence their thoughts or behavior, causing potential technological risks that may affect their lives. This study examined the online health information-seeking behavior of undergraduate students. Taking health issues as a guiding framework, content analysis was adopted to assess participants’ online health information-seeking behavior using a computer screen recording software, and coding analysis was conducted. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic with a formal sample of 101 participants. In terms of online health information-seeking behavior, 59% of the study participants used nouns as keywords, only 27% used Boolean logic retrieval techniques, 81% paid attention to the date of the data, and 85% did not consider the author’s professionalism. The results indicate that health information-seeking behavior and outcome judgments may be a missing piece of the puzzle in higher education. Consequently, the development of online health information-seeking skills through programs for undergraduate students is suggested to ensure that online readers have access to appropriate health information.

Suggested Citation

  • Wan-Chen Hsu, 2021. "Undergraduate Students’ Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13250-:d:703612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13250/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13250/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moorman, Christine & Matulich, Erika, 1993. "A Model of Consumers' Preventive Health Behaviors: The Role of Health Motivation and Health Ability," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 208-228, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katerina Tzafilkou & Liliana Mâță & Gabriela Livia Curpănaru & Ionuț Viorel Stoica & Lucian Nicolae Voinea & Constantin Șufaru, 2022. "A Comprehensive Instrument to Measure Teachers’ Attitude towards Quality Management in the Context of Online Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-16, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ritu Agarwal & Michelle Dugas & Guodong (Gordon) Gao & P. K. Kannan, 2020. "Emerging technologies and analytics for a new era of value-centered marketing in healthcare," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 9-23, January.
    2. Variyam, Jayachandran N. & Blaylock, James R. & Smallwood, David M. & Basiotis, P. Peter, 1998. "USDA's Healthy Eating Index and Nutrition Information," Technical Bulletins 33588, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Rebecca Pera & Giampaolo Viglia, 2017. "Can snacking be healthy? A comparison between coeliacs and health conscious food consumers," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(3), pages 79-99.
    4. Grandi, Benedetta & Burt, Steve & Cardinali, Maria Grazia, 2021. "Encouraging healthy choices in the retail store environment: Combining product information and shelf allocation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Luo, Wen & Mineo, Keito & Matsushita, Koji & Kanzaki, Mamoru, 2018. "Consumer willingness to pay for modern wooden structures: A comparison between China and Japan," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 84-93.
    6. Hausman, Angela, 2012. "Hedonistic rationality: Healthy food consumption choice using muddling-through," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 794-801.
    7. Prasad, Ashutosh & Strijnev, Andrei & Zhang, Qin, 2008. "What can grocery basket data tell us about health consciousness?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 301-309.
    8. Raza, Syed Ali & Shah, Nida & Nisar, Wasay, 2019. "Consumer Buying Behavior of Organic Food with Respect to Health and Safety Concerns among Adolescents," MPRA Paper 93570, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Mathew T. Baker & Peng Lu & Jean A. Parrella & Holli R. Leggette, 2022. "Consumer Acceptance toward Functional Foods: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-40, January.
    10. Jeremy Kees & Marla B. Royne & Yoon-Na Cho, 2014. "Regulating Front-of-Package Nutrition Information Disclosures: A Test of Industry Self-Regulation vs. Other Popular Options," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 147-174, March.
    11. Rimal, Arbindra & Moon, Wanki, 2009. "Self efficacy as a mediator of the relationship between dietary knowledge and behavior," 2009 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2009, Atlanta, Georgia 46742, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    12. Jeremy Kees & M. Paula Fitzgerald, 2016. "Who Uses Facts Up Front? A Baseline Examination of Who is Using Standardized Front-of-Package Nutrition Disclosures," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 458-470, July.
    13. Hansen, Torben & Thomsen, Thyra Uth, 2018. "The influence of consumers’ interest in healthy eating, definitions of healthy eating, and personal values on perceived dietary quality," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 55-67.
    14. Mai, Robert & Symmank, Claudia & Seeberg-Elverfeldt, Berenike, 2016. "Light and Pale Colors in Food Packaging: When Does This Package Cue Signal Superior Healthiness or Inferior Tastiness?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(4), pages 426-444.
    15. Abouk, Rahi & Jalali, Nima & Papatla, Purushottam, 2024. "Can tweets be word of mouth that changes risky behaviors?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    16. Lane Peterson Fronczek & Martin Mende & Maura L. Scott & Gergana Y. Nenkov & Anders Gustafsson, 2023. "Friend or foe? Can anthropomorphizing self-tracking devices backfire on marketers and consumers?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1075-1097, September.
    17. Camacho, N.M.A. & de Jong, M.G. & Stremersch, S., 2014. "The Effect of Customer Empowerment on Adherence to Expert Advice," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2014-005-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Balasubramanian, Siva K. & Moon, Wanki & Rimal, Arbindra & Coker, Kesha, 2009. "Antecedents Factors that Influence Soy Consumption: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49593, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Yuan, Ruizhi & Chen, Yanyan & Mandler, Timo, 2024. "It takes two to tango: The role of interactivity in enhancing customer engagement on sharing economy platforms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    20. Moon, Wanki & Balasubramanian, Siva K. & Rimal, Arbindra, 2011. "Health claims and consumers' behavioral intentions: The case of soy-based food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 480-489, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13250-:d:703612. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.