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Mary Jo Dorsey, MLS, AHIP, PhD CandidateSchool of Information Sciences

University of PittsburghWith support from the NIMH ACISR/Late Life Mood Disorders Center, School of Medicine P30 MH071944

References1. Ybarra M. 2006. Health Educ Res. Reasons, assessments and actions taken: sex and age differences

in uses of Internet health information.

2. Dickerson S. 2004. J Am Med Inform Assoc. Patient Internet use for health information at three urban primary care clinics.

3. Rideout V. 2005. Kaiser Family Foundation Report. E-Health and the elderly: How seniors use the Internet for health information. Survey conducted by the Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health.

4. Fox S. 2006. Pew/Internet Report: Online Health Search 2006

5. Ellis, D., Modeling the information-seeking patterns of academic researchers: A grounded theory approach. Library Quarterly, 1993. 63(4): 469-486.

6. Ellis, D., Modeling the information-seeking patterns of engineers and research scientists in an industrial environment. J Documentation, 1997. 53(4): 384-403.

7. Glaser, B. and A. Strauss, The discovery of grounded theory; strategies for qualitative research. Observations. 1967, Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co. 271p.

ResultsThe preliminary model indicates the presence of three stages of physician information-

seeking. (1) The pre-patient visit includes tasks such as listening to or reading current medical news that patients might be hearing, perusing websites that their patients (or family caregivers) may be familiar with, looking for educational materials of a case-based nature. (2) Information-seeking activities that occur during the patient visit primarily include reaching for the computer in the clinical office with the patient present and searching for a website or searching tools such as UpToDate™ or MDConsult™ for information to show the patient. (3) Information-seeking behaviors which occur following a patient visit include website follow-ups or notes to self in a palm or hand-held device to gather information at a later time or to request a search from the library or an administrative assistant.

Figure 1. Preliminary model.

A (preliminary) Consumer Health Information-Seeking Behavior Model of Primary Care Physicians Who Treat Elderly Depressed Patients

MethodologyUsing a grounded theory approach similar to that used in Ellis’ information seeking behavior

model research5,6, data was collected through personal interviews with Pittsburgh-area primary care physicians who see large numbers of elderly patients in their practices, together with environmental scans of their practice spaces and their responses to a standardized questionnaire on their confidence in using consumer health information with their patients.

Glaser & Strauss’ constant comparative method7 will lead to a generation of theory about the physicians’ common information-seeking behaviors from the empirically collected data. Data was gathered in three phases:(1) semi-structured interviews; (2) environmental scans; (3) self-evaluative confidence scale

The Study Questions:

1. How are these physicians searching for consumer health information? 2. How are physicians responding to health information requests from their patients or caregivers? 3. Can a consumer health information-seeking model that is significant for the medical and LIS professions be constructed?

What do we already know about elders’ use of the Internet?1-4

1. Roughly 20% of seniors age 65+ have used the Web to seek health information;

2. Almost 84% of seniors felt more comfortable with information given to them by a health provider;

3. 40% actually tried to diagnose their own problems with this information;

4. One-third sought support from others;

5. Just over a quarter of this population tried to treat the health problem on their own.

Objective and SettingThis poster describes research, methodology and expectations of a study designed to

investigate consumer health information (CHI)-seeking behaviors of primary care physicians who treat elderly depressed patients. The study identifies a specific population--senior health consumers--and investigates the steps that their front-line outpatient caregivers take to make sure their patients have the information needed to understand their illnesses and to take part in a shared decision-making process with regard to treatment. The poster reports findings from a pilot study of some of the MDs.

Figure 2. Physicians’ confidence levels with CHI

1 very confident, noneed to improve

2 confident, but shouldimprove

3 not confident, butshould improve

4 not confident, not apriority to improve

Conclusions and SignificanceAwareness of trends of information habits can lead to awareness of

one’s own information needs. • Medical school educators instruct physicians in training• LIS faculty educate graduate library and information science students who, in turn, as • Medical librarians, teach information seeking and retrieval methods to physicians.

A synthesized behavior model can enhance this educational process.

If an understanding of the CHI information-seeking behaviors of this group of physicians is successful, then the ACISR can also create its own consumer health information materials based precisely on their patients’ and caregivers’ information needs.

PP

PriorPrior

DD

DuringDuring

AA

AfterAfterObserve websites

Read professional journals

Read newspapers

Listen to radio

Talk to patient

Talk to caregiver

Offer web address

Offer print materials

Offer counseling

Ask nurse or office worker to give patient a print handout