Abstract
Background/Aims Prior research has shown that persons of lower socioeconomic status and certain racial/ethnic minorities often face challenges with communication and information seeking and therefore rely upon interpersonal sources for health information. Understanding the seeking preferences and behaviors of surrogate seekers (those who seek health information on behalf of others) may guide efforts to reach disadvantaged populations.
Methods We used data collected in 2011 and 2012 from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) to describe the behaviors and attitudes of online surrogate seekers, and to draw comparisons with self seekers (those seeking information on their own behalf). Respondents were asked about Internet use for surrogate seeking over the prior 12 months. Sociodemographic characteristics, confidence in seeking, and trust and attention to health information from various sources was assessed. Data were weighted to allow for population estimates. Bivariate associations between surrogate seeking and independent variables were evaluated using Chi Square statistics.
Results Surrogate seekers were more likely to live in households with others (weighted percent 89.4%, [1182 of 1427] vs. 82.5% of self seekers [503 of 695]; P <0.05); no significant differences in gender, race, income or education between surrogate and self seekers were observed. Surrogate seekers were more likely to report: visits to social networking sites to read and share about medical topics; participation in online health support groups; downloading of health information to electronic devices and searching online for a healthcare provider. Surrogate seekers were more likely to pay “a lot” of attention to at least one health information source (weighted percent 43.9% [663 of 1458 ] vs. 32.7% of self seekers [246 of 708], P = 0.01).
Conclusions Our results offer insight for leveraging lay health communication efforts to reach populations who rely on surrogate sources for health information.
