J Med Libr Assoc. 2024 Apr 1;112(2):107-116. doi: 10.5195/jmla.2024.1775. Epub 2024 May 22.
Health literacy and its potential impacts on the wellbeing of patrons remain a highly regarded objective among health science and medical librarians when considering learning outcomes of patron communities. Librarians are positioned to champion literacy instruction activities. This study aimed to examine health information seeking attitudes and behaviors in an academic-based employee wellness program before and after health literacy workshops were developed and facilitated by an academic health sciences librarian.
The intervention included instruction informed by Don Nutbeam's Health Literacy Framework and the Research Triangle Institute's Health Literacy Conceptual Framework. Sixty-five participants obtained through convenience sampling attended workshops and were invited to respond to pre- and post-session surveys. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental methodology, surveys collected health literacy indicators including preferred sources and handling practices of in-person and online health information.
Findings indicated workshops influenced information seeking behaviors as participants documented a decrease in social media use for health and wellness information (-36%) and medical information (-13%). An increase in the usage of consumer health databases (like Medline Plus) was also indicated post-workshop for health and wellness information (18%) and medical information (31%).
Favorable impacts are evident in this small-scale study; however, more research is needed to confirm the influence of these methods on larger and more diverse populations. Librarians should continue to develop and disseminate theory-informed tools and methods aimed at engaging various communities in constructive health information seeking practices.
当考虑到 patron 群体的学习成果时，健康素养及其对 patron 福祉的潜在影响仍然是健康科学和医学图书馆员高度重视的目标。图书馆员有能力倡导识字教学活动。本研究旨在考察学术型员工健康计划中健康信息寻求态度和行为，该计划在学术健康科学图书馆员开发和提供健康素养讲习班之前和之后进行。
干预措施包括基于 Don Nutbeam 的健康素养框架和 Research Triangle Institute 的健康素养概念框架的指导。通过便利抽样获得的 65 名参与者参加了讲习班，并被邀请回答会前和会后的调查。使用定量准实验方法，调查收集了健康素养指标，包括个人和在线健康信息的首选来源和处理实践。
研究结果表明，讲习班影响了信息寻求行为，因为参与者记录了社交媒体在健康和健康信息（-36%）和医疗信息（-13%）使用上的减少。在课后，人们还表示更多地使用消费者健康数据库（如 Medline Plus）来获取健康和健康信息（18%）和医疗信息（31%）。
在这项小规模研究中明显看出有利的影响；然而，需要进行更多的研究来确认这些方法对更大和更多样化的人群的影响。图书馆员应继续开发和传播以理论为基础的工具和方法，旨在吸引各种社区参与建设性的健康信息寻求实践。
