title: Positive attitudes and failed queries: an exploration of the conundrums of consumer health information retrieval.
abstract: Several studies have found that consumers report a high level of satisfaction with the Internet as a health information resource. Belied by this positive attitude, however, are other studies reporting that consumers were often unsuccessful in searching for health information. In this paper, we present an interview and observation study in which we asked health consumers to search for health information on the Internet after first stating their search goals. Upon the conclusion of the session they were asked to evaluate their searches. We found that many consumers were unable to find satisfactory information when performing a specific query, while in general the group viewed health information retrieval (HIR) on the Internet in a positive light. We analyzed the observed search sessions to determine what factors accounted for the failure of specific searches and positive attitudes, and also discussed potential informatics solutions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Decision Systems Group, Thorn 309, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA. qzeng@dsg.bwh.harvard.du
authors.forename: Qing T
authors.initials: QT
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kogan
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Plovnick
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crowell
authors.forename: Eve-Marie
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Lacroix
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Greenes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001900:Boston; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016239:MEDLINE; D008297:Male; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D008875:Middle Aged; D019370:Observation; D014584:User-Computer Interface