The Influence of Information Appraisals and Information Behaviors on the Acceptance of Health Information: A Study of Television Medical Talk Shows in South Korea

ABSTRACT

As television medical talk shows have become an increasingly popular source of health information, it is important to understand the processes by which people come to accept, at times unconditionally, the information presented by these shows. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM), this study explores the way by which individuals process health information from television medical talk shows. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between information exposure, information appraisals (e.g., appropriateness and incoherence), information behaviors (e.g., information seeking and sharing), and unconditional acceptance of health information. Results from a survey of 588 women in South Korean indicate that an individual’s appraisal of information as being appropriate or incoherent influences unconditional acceptance of health information. Both types of information appraisals are positively associated with information seeking, which is negatively associated with unconditional acceptance of information. In contrast, neither of these appraisals have an impact on unconditional acceptance via information sharing. Notably, when information appraisals are not considered, information exposure is positively associated with information sharing, which is then positively associated with unconditional acceptance. Implications for health information consumers and practitioners are discussed.

Funding

This article was supported by grants from Hallym University (grant number HRF-201408-008) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant number NRF-2015S1A3A2046760).

Notes

^1. After the amendment of the media law in 2009 that deregulated the media market in South Korea, the national public broadcaster as well as four new nationwide cable TV networks started to provide a large number of medical talk shows which usually take an entertainment format and host experts, celebrities, and ordinary people (Jung, 2016). However, more than 10 of these shows were subject to legal penalty due to providing unverified health information and leading to an upsurge in the purchase of related health products (Korea Communications Standards Commission, 2015).

^2. The panel maintained and managed by the survey company is recruited primarily through advertisements in a variety of online, mobile, and offline venues. The company sent an e-mail invitation to a random sample of 1,150 people who met our respondent criteria. The response rate was 51.1%. Participants received points, which they could redeem for rewards worth of $5. To ensure data quality, careless responding was identified through response time, response patterns, and response diligence to open questions, and was excluded from data.

^3. We defined television medical talk shows as entertainment talk shows that emphasize on presenting health and medical information.

^4. The four shows are weekly programs that debuted between 2011 and 2013 on four different channels. “Vitamin” and “The Lord of the Thumb” feature medical professionals and celebrities, who mainly discuss and examine current health issues. “The Secrets of the Nature” hosts people who share their health tips or stories of overcoming certain diseases and medical professionals who discuss them. In “The Victory with Doctors,” celebrities share their health-related issues and medical professionals provide them with advice.

^5. The items used in Lemire et al. (2008) measure individuals’ subjective evaluation of the importance and benefit of health information from mass media. We adapted the concept of usefulness to the context of the current study and used the term appropriateness in order to describe the extent to which people perceive that information is directly relevant and useful for their specific situational needs rather than the general usefulness.

^6. Walsh and Mitchell (2010) developed three dimensions of confusion about information people encounter (i.e., confusion from similarity, overload, and ambiguity).

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported by grants from Hallym University and the National Research Foundation of Korea.