Health Information Technology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Department of Medical Library and Information Sciences, School of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Health Info Libr J. 2023 Dec;40(4):359-370. doi: 10.1111/hir.12396. Epub 2021 Sep 6.
Access to reliable and credible health information improves individuals' personal care level in crises, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It subsequently results in enhancing the community's health and reducing the health system's costs.
This study aimed to investigate the COVID-19 related information seeking behaviour demonstrated by citizens in Isfahan, Iran.
This research was conducted in 2020 and employed a qualitative approach using conventional content analysis. The research population was selected from almost different social classes of people in Iran using purposive sampling. The saturation point was reached at 24 semi-structured interviews. The data's soundness was confirmed based on the criteria of credibility, confirmability, dependability and transferability proposed by Guba and Lincoln.
The findings revealed five subcategories and 25 codes within the information seeking behaviour. The subcategories included attitude towards the COVID-19 crisis, information needs, information resources, information validation and information seeking barriers.
People seek information from various resources to update their knowledge and become more prepared in the face of COVID-19. The findings can be used to develop policies on informing and preventing the dissemination of false information in crises, such as the COVID-19 crisis.
在危机时期，如 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行，获取可靠和可信的健康信息可提高个人的个人护理水平。这继而提高了社区的健康水平并降低了卫生系统的成本。
本研究旨在调查伊朗伊斯法罕市民在 COVID-19 方面的信息寻求行为。
本研究于 2020 年进行，采用传统的内容分析法进行定性研究。通过目的抽样，从伊朗不同社会阶层的人群中选择了研究对象。在 24 次半结构式访谈中达到了饱和点。根据 Guba 和 Lincoln 提出的可信度、可验证性、可靠性和可转移性标准，确认了数据的可靠性。
研究结果揭示了信息寻求行为中的五个亚类和 25 个代码。亚类包括对 COVID-19 危机的态度、信息需求、信息资源、信息验证和信息寻求障碍。
人们从各种资源中寻求信息，以更新知识，为应对 COVID-19 做好更充分的准备。这些发现可用于制定在 COVID-19 等危机时期告知和防止虚假信息传播的政策。
