Seekers and avoiders: Using health information orientation to explore audience segmentation

Abstract

Differentiation of health communication strategies can address a new type of health disparity, a communication inequity. This exploratory study collected survey data to identify online health information audience groups based on health information orientation and objective and perceived health literacy. Two groups were identified and compared showing that health information orientation could be used for systematic segmentation of the consumers of online health information. The two distinct information behaviors, health information engagement and health information apprehension, provided a stable foundation for audience segmentation. The paper discusses how the segmentation of audiences based on the reported information behaviors and information orientation can facilitate the development of targeted health communication and information engagement approaches.

Keywords:

• Access to information
• Audience research
• Health communication
• Health literacy
• Information seeking behavior

Author information

Yulia Strekalova studies Science and Health Communication as a PhD student in the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. She has earned a BA/MA degree in Mass Communication from the Russian State University for the Humanities and an MBA from the University of Florida. Yulia also holds a position of director of grants development in the UF College of Journalism and Communications, where she facilitates research proposals, assists in grant writing, and coordinates large research projects. Yulia's research interests lie in the fields of knowledge exchange between experts and non-experts and engaged decision-making. More specifically, she is interested in mediated communication in the areas of science and health communication, knowledge translation, audience segmentation, and motivation and decision-making. Yulia has presented at academic research conferences as well as at national meetings on research administration. She has developed and taught general education classes for undergraduates, and has delivered vocational education lectures to international audiences.