Lee Wei-Chen, Kim Emily M, Nemirovski Elizabeth A, Kamprath Sagar, Masel Meredith C, Patel Darpan I
Department of Family Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
John Sealy School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Mar 15;13(6):640. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13060640.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Understanding health information-seeking behavior is critical in providing effective interventions and improving quality of life for patients, especially those facing complex diagnoses like cancer. The purpose of this study is to understand rural-urban differences in trust levels for various information sources and how trust may differ by cancer status (no cancer, newly diagnosed, survived for six and more years).
We examined 5775 responses from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey. Using the component analysis, eight sources of information were classified into three domains: structured (doctor, government, scientist, and charity), less structured (family and religion), and semi-structured (health system and social media). Respondents answered questions on a scale of 1-4. Weighted linear regression models were constructed to examine trust level in three domains by rural residency and cancer status, while adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic status.
Urban patients reported higher trust in more structured sources of information (2.999 > 2.873, = 0.005) whereas rural counterparts reported higher trust in less structured sources of information (2.241 > 2.153, = 0.012). After adjusting for covariates, urban respondents with cancer are more likely to trust doctors (Coeff. = 0.163, < 0.001) than those without cancer. Rural respondents with cancer are less likely to trust charities (Coeff. = -0.357, < 0.01) and scientists (Coeff. = -0.374, < 0.05) than rural respondents without cancer.
Newly diagnosed cancer patients in rural areas are less likely to trust structured sources of information even after adjusting for all covariates. Additional studies about misinformation and disinformation being channeled through less structured sources of information are needed to prevent any delay in care among cancer patients, especially rural patients who are more likely to access these sources of information.
背景/目的：了解健康信息寻求行为对于为患者提供有效干预措施和改善其生活质量至关重要，尤其是对于那些面临癌症等复杂诊断的患者。本研究的目的是了解城乡在对各种信息来源的信任程度上的差异，以及信任如何因癌症状态（无癌症、新诊断、存活六年及以上）而有所不同。
我们研究了2022年健康信息国家趋势调查中的5775份回复。通过成分分析，将八个信息来源分为三个领域：结构化（医生、政府、科学家和慈善机构）、结构化程度较低（家庭和宗教）和半结构化（卫生系统和社交媒体）。受访者按1至4的量表回答问题。构建加权线性回归模型，以研究农村居住情况和癌症状态对三个领域信任程度的影响，同时对人口统计学和社会经济地位进行调整。
城市患者对结构化程度更高的信息来源的信任度更高（2.999 > 2.873，P = 0.005），而农村患者对结构化程度较低的信息来源的信任度更高（2.241 > 2.153，P = 0.012）。在对协变量进行调整后，患有癌症的城市受访者比未患癌症的受访者更有可能信任医生（系数 = 0.163，P < 0.001）。与没有癌症的农村受访者相比，患有癌症的农村受访者不太可能信任慈善机构（系数 = -0.357，P < 0.01）和科学家（系数 = -0.374，P < 0.05）。
即使在对所有协变量进行调整之后，农村地区新诊断出癌症的患者也不太可能信任结构化的信息来源。需要对通过结构化程度较低的信息来源传播的错误信息和虚假信息进行更多研究，以防止癌症患者，尤其是更有可能获取这些信息来源的农村患者出现治疗延误。
