Developing the Persian Version of Online Health Information Seeking Questionnaire for Pregnant Women in Iran

Objective The speed and ease of using the Internet has made it one of the most important sources of finding health information for pregnant women. Examining the online health information seeking behaviors for each society requires the use of a standardized local tool. Therefore, this study aims to develop the Persian version of online health information seeking questionnaire for pregnant women in Iran. Methods This is a descriptive survey study. Participants were 357 pregnant women referred to Al-Zahra Hospital in Ahvaz, Iran. They completed the Persian version of online health information seeking questionnaire developed by Ahadzadeh and Sharif. The explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling were used to assess the factorial structure of the questionnaire in SPSS software, version 26 and LISREL v. 8.80 applications. Results The findings of factor analysis yielded six factors of user attitude, perceived ease of use, internet use intensity, health information about the baby, health information about the labor, and health information about pregnancy. These factors predicted 70% of the variance in online health information seeking behaviors, where the strongest predictor was the user attitude. The correlation between all factors was positive and significant. The results of the goodness of fit indices for all factors showed that the good fit of the 6-factor model. The Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was obtained 0.946, indicating its acceptable reliability. Conclusion The Persian version of online health information seeking questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability can be used for pregnant women in Iran.