Christine Marton

A review of theoretical models of health information seeking on the web

Purpose – By selectively reviewing theory‐driven survey studies on internet health information seeking, the paper aims to provide an informal assessment of the theoretical foundations and research methods that have been used to study this information behavior.Design/methodology/approach – After a review of the literature, four theory‐driven quantitative survey studies are analyzed in detail. Each study is examined in terms of: theoretical framework; research variables that form the focus of the study; research design (sampling, data collection and analysis); and findings and results of hypothesis testing and model testing. The authors then discuss the theoretical models and analytical methods adopted, and identify suggestions that could be helpful to future researchers.Findings – Taken as a whole, the studies reviewed point strongly to the need for multidisciplinary frameworks that can capture the complexity of online health information behavior. The studies developed theoretical frameworks by drawing fro...

Information Seeking on the Web by Women in IT Professions

The paper develops a behavioral model of Web information seeking that identifies four complementary modes of information seeking: undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, informal search, and formal search. In each mode of viewing or searching, users would adopt distinctive patterns of browser moves: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The model is applied empirically to analyze the Web information seeking behavior of 24 women in IT professions over a two‐week period. Our results show that participants engaged in all four modes of information seeking on the Web, and that each mode may be characterized by certain browser actions. Overall, the study suggests that a behavioral approach that links information seeking modes (goals and reasons for browsing and searching) to moves (actions used to find and view information) may be helpful in understanding Web‐based information seeking.

A Question of Quality: The Effect of Source Quality on Information Seeking by Women in IT Professions.

This paper presents preliminary results from a study of how women in information technology (IT) professions use a range of information sources in their day-to-day work activities. Through a questionnaire survey, the study investigates the effects of Perceived Source Accessibility and Perceived Source Quality on the selection and use of information sources. Thirteen information sources, including the World Wide Web and Web-based computer-mediated communication, were identified. Sixty-seven participants completed the survey. The most frequently used information source is the World Wide Web, followed by mass media, colleagues in the same department, computer-mediated communication, business professionals and associates, and colleagues in a different group/department. The least used information sources are the internal library, and competitors. For many of the sources, there was a strong relationship between perceived source quality and source usage. This finding runs counter to early, well-known studies that concluded that scientists and engineers selected sources based only on their accessibility. Surprisingly, the present study did not find a significant relationship between source accessibility and source usage. The implications for research are discussed.

Instructional methods used by health sciences librarians to teach evidence-based practice (EBP): a systematic review

BACKGROUND Librarians often teach evidence-based practice (EBP) within health sciences curricula. It is not known what teaching methods are most effective. METHODS A systematic review of the literature was conducted searching CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, LISTA, PubMed, Scopus, and others. Searches were completed through December 2014. No limits were applied. Hand searching of Medical Library Association annual meeting abstracts from 2009-2014 was also completed. Studies must be about EBP instruction by a librarian within undergraduate or graduate health sciences curricula and include skills assessment. Studies with no assessment, letters and comments, and veterinary education studies were excluded. Data extraction and critical appraisal were performed to determine the risk of bias of each study. RESULTS Twenty-seven studies were included for analysis. Studies occurred in the United States (20), Canada (3), the United Kingdom (1), and Italy (1), with 22 in medicine and 5 in allied health. Teaching methods included lecture (20), small group or one-on-one instruction (16), computer lab practice (15), and online learning (6). Assessments were quizzes or tests, pretests and posttests, peer-review, search strategy evaluations, clinical scenario assignments, or a hybrid. Due to large variability across studies, meta-analysis was not conducted. DISCUSSION Findings were weakly significant for positive change in search performance for most studies. Only one study compared teaching methods, and no one teaching method proved more effective. Future studies could conduct multisite interventions using randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trial study design and standardized assessment tools to measure outcomes.

American Cancer Hospital Web Sites and Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies

An examination of the Web sites of the 2010 top five hospitals for cancer care in the United States revealed that adoption of Web 2.0 technologies is variable, with Twitter and YouTube consistently present. Facebook, RSS feeds, blogs, and podcasts were also present on several Web sites. However, graphic icon links to Web 2.0 technologies on these hospital Web sites are not integrated into the top level site navigation, thereby limiting their visibility to site visitors. Cancer hospital librarians can assume a leadership role in the development and management of a consistent Web 2.0 presence on the Web site of their health care institution.

The Online Presence of Hospital Medical Librarians on Hospital Web Sites

The public Web sites of hospitals are accessible to all Web users and can be easily located on the Open Web by utilizing popular general Web search engines such as Google and Yahoo! to search on the name of the hospital of interest. Hospital Web sites provide an extensive amount of general information about the hospital’s clinical services, health care practitioners, and current clinical research findings. Hospital Web sites also provide basic information about administrative structure and departments, geographic location, parking facilities, translation services, and fundraising events. Many offer consumer health information online with an extensive A–Z list of health conditions. The information provided on hospital Web sites is intended primarily for use by the general public and patients. However, clinicians, researchers, government officials and regulatory bodies, insurance companies, and donors, among others, undoubtedly find the content on hospital Web sites informative. With the advent of evidence-based practice and research in the new millennium, library and information services should play a key role in optimizing patient care and facilitating clinical research. However, a recent investigation of the online presence of hospital medical libraries on public Web sites of the top 10 hospitals in the United States revealed a lack of top-level navigation links to the Web pages of hospital medical libraries, signifying that hospital medical libraries are rendered invisible on hospital Web sites (1). This invisibility may in turn diminish the importance of the

How Women With Mental Health Conditions Evaluate the Quality of Information on Mental Health Web sites: A Qualitative Approach

One of the primary purposes of using the Web is to find health information for personal health conditions and for the health conditions of care recipients. Women use the Web to find health information more so than men. Information on many health topics is available online. However, many studies have shown that the quality of content on health information Web sites is poor. The narrow focus of quality rating instruments that assess the content quality of health Web sites solely on the basis of adherence to clinical treatment guidelines is called into question. Web user-defined quality criteria obtained from observational studies offer a more realistic perspective. Semistructured interviews on health information seeking on the Web conducted with five women who have chronic mental health conditions demonstrate that several criteria to assess the reliability of online health information are utilized during online searching. The key criteria for quality assessment are the comprehensiveness, authoritativeness, trustworthiness, and currency of health information on mental health Web sites. Hospital librarians can play a key role to ensure that mental health patients have access to consumer health information that meets these criteria for reliability, both through the provision of instruction on the selection high-quality information resources to mental health patients and their caregivers and through the development of a comprehensive list of high-quality mental health information resources hosted on the hospitals Web site and available as a handout in the hospital library. Furthermore, hospital librarians should be actively involved in conducting studies of online information use by patients.

Understanding the Health Information Needs of British Internet Users Seeking Health Information Online and Their Perceptions of the Quality of the Internet as a Source of Health Information

Statistical results from three Web survey studies on consumer health information from the British Life and Internet Project demonstrate (1) health information needs motivate online health information seeking; (2) these health topics are robust predictors of various measures of online health information seeking in logistic regression models: health conditions and illnesses; new treatments; healthy lifestyle; prescription drugs; sensitive health topics; alternative medicines; and doctor’s visit and doctor or hospital; (3) online health information is not perceived as being completely credible; but (4) online health information can effect positive health outcomes, notably improved eating habits and increased exercise and relaxation; and (5) although official consumer health sites in the UK may be deemed more credible than unofficial consumer health sites, unofficial sites may be viewed as having more relevant content than official sites. A recent EU study confirms the perception by UK Internet users of the usefulness of the Internet in self-care, care of others, and effective positive health outcomes. These findings may be helpful to consumer health librarians working in hospitals and public libraries alike in understanding their clients’ health information needs and their perceptions of the Internet as a source of health information. Findings may also influence collection development and management.

The Online Presence of Information Services at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

This study investigates the online presence of information services on the public Web site of the top-ranked rehabilitation hospital in the United States, as designated by the annual U.S. News & World Report. Terms commonly used to describe information services were entered individually in the sites search engine to locate Web pages that mention information services. Search results were generally of low relevance and failed to retrieve any mention of the hospital library or librarian. However, links to the hospitals consumer health collections were retrieved.

The Online Presence of Information Services on the Public Web Sites of the Top Children’s Hospitals in America

This study investigates the online presence of information services on the public Web sites of the top-ranked children’s hospitals in the United States of America as designated annually by U.S. News & World Report. Terms commonly used to describe information services were entered individually in the site’s search engine to locate relevant Web pages. Conventional terms for information services, such as library, libraries, librarian, and librarians, were generally successful in retrieving Web pages about the hospital library within the first 10 search results. The search term resource center was successful in retrieving the Web pages of consumer health collections. The Web pages of unconventional collections, such as video libraries and genomic libraries, were also retrieved. The public Web sites of all five top-ranked children’s hospitals have Web pages for their consumer health collections, but only three of five provide Web pages for their medical libraries.