Everyday health information exchange and citation behaviour in Internet discussion groups

Abstract

Abstract Internet health discussion groups form virtual communities, where people look for both health information and emotional support as a part of an everyday life information-seeking practice. This study reports the information-oriented behaviour of participants discussing general health issues like healthy food, diets and dietary supplements, in support groups for overweight persons, diabetics and vegetarians. The study analyses how the participants refer to health information sources, in order to acquire, disseminate and exchange information within the group, and how this information is assessed by other members of the virtual community. In this analysis of the content and the context of citations and references in 30 newsgroup discussion threads, focusing on health and nutrition, the sources referred to are categorized and discussed. The results show that over 80% of all citations refer to Web sources and that nearly 60% of all citations refer to sources with a scientific medical content. Other sources are diet books, alternative health sites and Web health portals. The citation behaviour and the use of information suggest normative information (citation) behaviour in these information-rich virtual cultures.