Students’ Health Information Seeking Behavior: Presenting a Conceptual Model

ABSTRACT

This was a descriptive-analytical study carried out using a cross-sectional method to present a conceptual model of students’ health information-seeking behavior. The proposed model developed a base of theory of planned behavior (TPB) validated and presented based on structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings show that attitude, subjective norms, and user friendliness have a direct and significant effect on a student’s intention to use health information Web sites. Other findings indicate that perceived behavior control and intention have a direct and significant effect on a student’s behavior in using health information Web sites. The results of this study adequately identified the effective factors in using health information websites and show that theory of planned behavior (TPB) is an appropriate framework for explaining student’s behavior in using health information Web sites. These implications can be beneficial to health information website designers and hospital librarians as understanding the implications make optimal use of these Web sites possible.

KEYWORDS:

• Information seeking behavior
• health information
• theory of planned behavior (TPB)
• attitude
• subjective norms
• perceived behavior control

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences [Grant Number: 60213].