Health Information as “Fodder for Fears”: A Qualitative Analysis of Types and Determinants of the Nonuse of Health Information

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of determinants of various types of nonuse of health information.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of participants (n = 31).

	Total sample
Mean Age (in years)	M = 39.7 (min = 18; max = 67)
Gender
Female	11 (35.5%)
Male	10 (32.3%)
Non-binary	10 (32.3%)
Education
Certificate of lower secondary education	2 (6.5%)
General certificate of upper secondary education	6 (19.4%)
University entrance diploma or university degree	23 (74.2%)
Health status
Good health	17 (54.8%)
Chronic health condition	14 (45.2%)

Table 2. List of main domains and questions covered in the interviews.

Relevance of health information

How important is it for you to be well-informed about the topic of health?

Health information-seeking and avoidance behaviors

Interest in specific health issues Which health issues are particularly relevant to you and your everyday life? Which health issues would you personally attribute less importance to? Why?

Process of health information-seeking behaviors When you are confronted with a health problem yourself, how do you usually engage with information? Feel free to describe in more detail how you went about it, for example, the last time you were confronted with a health issue or challenge.

Purposeful information avoidance Can you imagine a time or situation when you would want to avoid getting information about a health issue? Please explain in more detail. What are the reasons you do not want to hear about a health issue, risk, or concern?

Determinants: Promoters/Barriers to health information-seeking and avoidance behaviors

How difficult/easy is it or was it for you to access information about health issues?

Assessment of cognitive abilities What challenges do you see in finding information? To what extent do you think the available information is sufficient? To what extent is it difficult to evaluate the information? To what extent is the information found comprehensible to you?

Assessment of socio-normative factors What role do the behaviors or expectations of your family or friends play for your preferred engagement with health information?

Assessment of emotions and moods What role do feelings (e.g., fears, anxiety) play in your preferred engagement with health information? To what extent do feelings inhibit your engagement with health information?

Table 3. Characteristics and determinants of information ignoring and information avoidance.

	Information ignoring	Information avoidance
Characteristics
Motivational force	Information utility: Low personal relevance weight against the costs of information seeking (such as time resources, accessability and comprehensibility of information)	Hedonic utility: issue- and information-related emotion regulation and self-protection
Scope
Consistency	High consistency	Continuum from high consistency to temporal avoidance (low consistency)
Selectivity	Issue-related ignorance	Issue-related avoidance
	Source-related ignorance	Source-related avoidance
Determinants
Individual differences	Coping styles	Coping styles, optimism, health anxiety
Cognitive factors	Seeking control	Seeking control, cognitive load, coping resources
Socio-normative factors	Seeking-related social norms, social support, news finds me-perception	Seeking-related social norms, avoidance-related social norms
Affective factors	-	Actual mood
Information-related and structural factors	Complexity of information	Complexity of information, algorithm-configurated media environments