title: Age differences in information-seeking among cancer patients.
abstract: Studies examining patient populations have found that information-seeking decreases with age. However, researchers usually define information-seeking as involving only the medical establishment, while they neglect other sources of information. The present study examined the use of two types of information sources, non-medical establishment (newspaper, television, and friends) and medical establishment (doctors and nurses), among seventy-five cancer patients aged eighteen to eighty-one years. Patients responded to questionnaires asking about information-seeking, desire for more cancer information, self-perception of their knowledge about cancer, and actual knowledge of facts about cancer. For the medical establishment source, information-seeking decreased with age; however, no age differences existed for seeking non-medical establishment information. In individuals with high levels of desire for information, older adults reported more information-seeking from non-medical sources than did younger adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90089, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turk-Charles
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Meyerowitz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gatz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012044:Regression Analysis