Ellis Janette, Mullan Judy, Worsley Anthony, Pai Nagesh
Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Int J Family Med. 2012;2012:397039. doi: 10.1155/2012/397039. Epub 2012 Sep 10.
Background. Patients engage in health information-seeking behaviour to maintain their wellbeing and to manage chronic diseases such as arthritis. Health literacy allows patients to understand available treatments and to critically appraise information they obtain from a wide range of sources. Aims. To explore how arthritis patients' health literacy affects engagement in arthritis-focused health information-seeking behaviour and the selection of sources of health information available through their informal social network. Methods. An exploratory, qualitative study consisting of one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Twenty participants with arthritis were recruited from community organizations. The interviews were designed to elicit participants' understanding about their arthritis and arthritis medication and to determine how the participants' health literacy informed selection of where they found information about their arthritis and pain medication. Results. Participants with low health literacy were less likely to be engaged with health information-seeking behaviour. Participants with intermediate health literacy were more likely to source arthritis-focused health information from newspapers, television, and within their informal social network. Those with high health literacy sourced information from the internet and specialist health sources and were providers of information within their informal social network. Conclusion. Health professionals need to be aware that levels of engagement in health information-seeking behaviour and sources of arthritis-focused health information may be related to their patients' health literacy.
背景。患者会进行健康信息寻求行为，以维护自身健康并管理诸如关节炎等慢性病。健康素养使患者能够理解可用的治疗方法，并批判性地评估他们从各种来源获得的信息。目的。探讨关节炎患者的健康素养如何影响其参与以关节炎为重点的健康信息寻求行为，以及通过其非正式社交网络获取的健康信息来源的选择。方法。一项探索性的定性研究，包括一对一的半结构化访谈。从社区组织招募了20名患有关节炎的参与者。访谈旨在引出参与者对其关节炎和关节炎药物的理解，并确定参与者的健康素养如何影响他们选择获取关节炎和止痛药物信息的途径。结果。健康素养低的参与者参与健康信息寻求行为的可能性较小。中等健康素养的参与者更有可能从报纸、电视以及他们的非正式社交网络中获取以关节炎为重点的健康信息。健康素养高的人从互联网和专业健康来源获取信息，并且是其非正式社交网络中的信息提供者。结论。卫生专业人员需要意识到，参与健康信息寻求行为的程度以及以关节炎为重点的健康信息来源可能与其患者的健康素养有关。
