Health Information Seeking, Receipt, and Use in Diabetes Self-Management

TLDR

Diabetes self‑management is essential for control, yet little is known about patients’ preferences for information sources or how much information they actively seek versus receive passively. This qualitative study aimed to identify how individuals with diabetes seek and use health‑care information. Guided by a health‑information model, the researchers conducted nine focus groups with 46 adults with diabetes and analyzed the transcripts and notes. The study identified five key themes—passive receipt of information, individualized information webs, the role of personal relationships, the necessity of clinician support, and the influence of health literacy—that shape how patients with diabetes seek and use information, and it proposed a new model reflecting the nonlinear, mixed active–passive nature of this behavior.

Abstract

<b>PURPOSE</b> Diabetes self-management is essential for diabetes control, yet little is known about patient preferences for sources of health information or about the extent to which information is sought directly or received passively through various media sources. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify how individuals with diabetes seek and use health care information. <b>METHODS</b> Using a health information model to guide our research, we conducted 9 focus groups with 46 adults with a diagnosis of diabetes and then analyzed the transcripts and notes from these focus groups. <b>RESULTS</b> Five themes emerged: (1) passive receipt of health information about diabetes is an important aspect of health information behavior; (2) patients weave their own information web depending on their disease trajectory; (3) patients' personal relationships help them understand and use this information; (4) a relationship with a health care professional is needed to cope with complicated and sometimes conflicting information; and (5) health literacy makes a difference in patients' ability to understand and use information. <b>CONCLUSIONS</b> Patients make decisions about diabetes self-management depending on their current needs, seeking and incorporating diverse information sources not traditionally viewed as providing health information. Based on our findings, we have developed a new health information model that reflects both the nonlinear nature of health information-seeking behavior and the interplay of both active information seeking and passive receipt of information.