title: Primary health-care nurses and Internet health information-seeking: Access, barriers and quality checks.
abstract: Online information is a critical resource for evidence-based practice and patient education. This study aimed to establish New Zealand nurses' access and evaluation of online health information in the primary care context using a postal questionnaire survey; there were 630 respondents from a random sample of 931 nurses. The majority of respondents were satisfied with work access to online information (84.5%, n = 501) and searched for online information at least several times a week (57.5%, n = 343). The major barrier to online information seeking was insufficient time, but 68 respondents had no work online information access. The level of nursing qualification was significantly correlated with computer confidence and information quality checking. A range of information evaluation approaches was used. Most nurses in study accessed and evaluated Internet information in contrast to the findings of earlier studies, but there were barriers preventing universal integration into practice.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gilmour
authors.affiliation: Hawke's Bay District Health Board, Hastings, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Strong
authors.affiliation: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Social Work & Interprofessional Learning, Middlesex University, London, UK.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanna
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huntington
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Internet; information literacy; nurses; primary health care; survey