Wu Yifang, Zhang Luxi, Zhao Xinshu
Art School, Huzhou University, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Communication, Institute of Collaborative Innovation, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao, China.
Digit Health. 2025 Apr 17;11:20552076251336308. doi: 10.1177/20552076251336308. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.
While previous studies indicated that seeking online health information could reduce individuals' cancer information overload, the results are inconsistent and have remained unknown in China. This study focuses on cancer patients' family members to determine whether online health information seeking helps lessen cancer information overload and the processes underlying this association.
To examine the relationship between online health information seeking and cancer information overload through psychological empowerment and anxiety in the sequel, we carried out a quota sampling online survey in mainland China in 2023. We also looked at the underlying mechanism's moderated role in eHealth literacy.
We standardized all variables from 0 to 1 using a Min-max normalization and conducted Model 6 and Model 92 of Process Macro to examine the mediation and moderation effects. The final sample size was 628 cancer patients' family members.
We found that online health information seeking negatively impacted cancer information overload through psychological empowerment and anxiety ( = -.007, CI: [-.013, -.002]). Specifically, online health information seeking was positively related to psychological empowerment ( = .201, CI: [.149, .252]), which eased family members' anxiety ( = -.271, CI: [-.420, -.122]) and eventually reduced cancer information overload ( = .120, CI: [.063, .177]). Moreover, we observed that while online health information seeking increased family members' anxiety ( = .126, CI: [.023, .228]), eHealth literacy served as a moderator to mitigate this association ( = -.668, < .05).
The findings can be used by healthcare workers, public health policymakers, and online health information providers to advise Chinese cancer patients' family members about the overwhelming amount of information they may encounter when seeking online health information.
尽管先前的研究表明，寻求在线健康信息可以减少个人的癌症信息过载，但结果并不一致，在中国这一情况仍不明朗。本研究聚焦于癌症患者的家属，以确定寻求在线健康信息是否有助于减轻癌症信息过载以及这种关联背后的过程。
为了通过心理赋权和后续的焦虑来检验寻求在线健康信息与癌症信息过载之间的关系，我们于2023年在中国大陆进行了一项配额抽样在线调查。我们还研究了潜在机制在电子健康素养中的调节作用。
我们使用最小-最大归一化将所有变量从0标准化到1，并进行了过程宏的模型6和模型92来检验中介和调节效应。最终样本量为628名癌症患者的家属。
我们发现，寻求在线健康信息通过心理赋权和焦虑对癌症信息过载产生负面影响（β = -.007，置信区间：[-.013, -.002]）。具体而言，寻求在线健康信息与心理赋权呈正相关（β = .201，置信区间：[.149, .252]），这减轻了家属的焦虑（β = -.271，置信区间：[-.420, -.122]），最终减少了癌症信息过载（β = .120，置信区间：[.063, .177]）。此外，我们观察到，虽然寻求在线健康信息增加了家属的焦虑（β = .126，置信区间：[.023, .228]），但电子健康素养起到了调节作用，减轻了这种关联（β = -.668，p < .05）。
医护人员、公共卫生政策制定者和在线健康信息提供者可以利用这些研究结果，就中国癌症患者家属在寻求在线健康信息时可能遇到的大量信息提供建议。
