title: Negative information-seeking experiences of long-term prostate cancer survivors.
abstract: Many prostate cancer survivors have lasting symptoms and disease-related concerns for which they seek information. To understand survivors' information-seeking experiences, we examined the topics of their information searches, their overall perceptions of the search, and perceptions of their health information seeking self-efficacy (i.e., confidence in their ability to obtain information). We hypothesized that negative search experiences and lower health information seeking self-efficacy would be associated with certain survivor characteristics such as non-white race, low income, and less education.
  
  
  
  This was a retrospective study using data from the Michigan Prostate Cancer Survivor Study (state-based survey of long-term prostate cancer survivor outcomes, N = 2499, response rate = 38 %). Participants recalled their last search for information and reported the topics and overall experience. We conducted multivariable regression to examine the association between survivor characteristics and the information-seeking experience.
  
  
  
  Nearly a third (31.7 %) of prostate cancer survivors (median age of 76 years and 9 years since diagnosis) reported having negative information-seeking experiences when looking for information. However, only 13.4 % reported having low health information-seeking self-efficacy. Lower income and less education were both significantly associated with negative information-seeking experiences.
  
  
  
  Our findings suggest that many long-term prostate cancer survivors have negative experiences when searching for information, and lower income and less education were survivor factors related to negative information-seeking experiences.
  
  
  
  We advocate for ongoing, information needs assessment at the point-of-care as the survivorship experience progresses to assess and potentially improve survivors' quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Nursing, 1111 Middle Dr., Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA. jenbernat@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jennifer K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Bernat
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.|VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Clinical Management Research, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Ted A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Skolarus
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Hawley
authors.affiliation: VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Health Information and Communication, Roudebush VAMC, Indianapolis, IN, USA.|Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Haggstrom
authors.affiliation: Michigan Public Health Institute, Okemos, MI, USA.
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Darwish-Yassine
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Daniela A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wittmann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020377:Self Efficacy; D015996:Survival Rate; D017741:Survivors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Information seeking; Information support; Prostate cancer; Quality of life; Survivorship