Health information seeking, receipt, and use in diabetes self-management.
OBJECTIVE
Diabetes self-management is essential for diabetes control, yet little is known about patient preferences for sources of health information or about the extent to which information is sought directly or received passively through various media sources. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify how individuals with diabetes seek and use health care information.


METHODS
Using a health information model to guide our research, we conducted 9 focus groups with 46 adults with a diagnosis of diabetes and then analyzed the transcripts and notes from these focus groups.


RESULTS
Five themes emerged: (1) passive receipt of health information about diabetes is an important aspect of health information behavior; (2) patients weave their own information web depending on their disease trajectory; (3) patients' personal relationships help them understand and use this information; (4) a relationship with a health care professional is needed to cope with complicated and sometimes conflicting information; and (5) health literacy makes a difference in patients' ability to understand and use information.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients make decisions about diabetes self-management depending on their current needs, seeking and incorporating diverse information sources not traditionally viewed as providing health information. Based on our findings, we have developed a new health information model that reflects both the nonlinear nature of health information-seeking behavior and the interplay of both active information seeking and passive receipt of information.
Longo
Daniel R
DR
Department of Family Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, West Hospital, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0251, USA. drlongo@vcu.edu
Schubert
Shari L
SL
Wright
Barbara A
BA
LeMaster
Joseph
J
Williams
Casey D
CD
Clore
John N
JN
D000368:Aged; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014768:Virginia