Healthcare reform information - seeking : Relationships with uncertainty , uncertainty discrepancy , and health self - efficacy

This exploratory study examines informationseeking about the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e. healthcare reform) in relation to the potential barriers of uncertainty, uncertainty discrepancy, and low health self-efficacy. Adult United States participants completed an anonymous online survey about their perceptions and understanding of healthcare reform. Results confirmed recent literature, suggesting a complex relationship between information-seeking and uncertainty. Specifically, for this sample, significant positive relationships were observed between information-seeking about healthcare reform and uncertainty, uncertainty discrepancy, health selfefficacy. Further, uncertainty discrepancy was the potential barrier that accounted for the most variance in predicting information-seeking. Implications of these findings for improving public understanding of healthcare reform are discussed.