Information behaviour, health self-efficacy beliefs and health behaviour in Icelanders' everyday life

Introduction. The aim of this study is to gather knowledge about how different groups of Icelanders take advantage of information about health and lifestyle in their everyday life. Method. A random sample of 1,000 people was used in the study and data was gathered as a postal survey. Response rate was 50.8%. Analysis. K-means cluster analysis was used to draw four clusters based on the participants' purposive information seeking. To validate the cluster classification and describe the clusters further, they were examined in relation to a number of external variables related to information behaviour, as well as the variables sex, age and education. The health self-efficacy beliefs and the health behaviour of the clusters were also examined. Results. The results indicate that four distinct groups of people exist, that differ not only regarding their information behaviour, but also in relation to their health self-efficacy beliefs and health behaviour. Conclusions. The findings indicate that information seeking which is accompanied by a critical approach in the selection of information sources and low information behaviour barriers, together with high health self-efficacy beliefs, relates to the most healthy behaviour. Abstract