BACKGROUND Health information obtained from the Internet has an impact on patient health care outcomes. There is a growing concern over the quality of online health information sources used by diabetic patients because little is known about their health information-seeking behavior and the impact this behavior has on their diabetes-related self-care, in particular in the Middle East setting. ...

BACKGROUND Pre-natal and post-natal periods are times when many women actively seek health information from multiple sources, including the Internet. However, little is known about how pregnant women and mothers of young children seek and process online pediatric health information. OBJECTIVE To explore why and where mothers of young children look for online health information and how they de...

While most of the existing research about online health information focuses exclusively on either the provider or the user side of communication circuits, this article aims to integrate and discuss both sides and their mediated relation to one another. Drawing on actor-network theory, it conceptualizes the provision and use of online health information as sociotechnical. It questions concretely...

BACKGROUND Due to their working conditions, seafarers often don't benefit from the same medical coverage than the onshore population. Therefore, seafarers and their relatives often need to locate health information by themselves. While the rise of the Internet has drastically transformed the way people can gather information, the availability of specific maritime health information online still...

BACKGROUND Online health information is of variable and often low scientific quality. In particular, elderly less-educated populations are said to struggle in accessing quality online information (digital divide). Little is known about (1) how their online behavior differs from that of younger, more-educated, and more-frequent Web users, and (2) how the older population may be supported in acce...

An increasing number of people visit online health communities to share experiences and seek health information. Although studies have enumerated reasons for patients' visits to online communities for health information from peers, we know little about how patients gain health information from the moderators in these communities. We qualitatively analyze 480 patient and moderator posts from six...

The Internet has become an important and preferred source of health information. Although the literature has highlighted several key predictors that influence an individual's online health information seeking behavior, insufficient attention has been paid to the changes in the predictors' roles and effects over time. This study explores and compares the effects that specific predictors had on o...

in fact, health strategists and policymakers contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of planning, providing and evaluating health care, and the use of various capabilities of itc. the evidence for this claim includes: e-government, e-development, e-commerce, e-assurance and the same issues which are pursued in high levels of govemment’s legislative and executive bodies. e-health is consi...

Information privacy is a major concern of internet users; however, online vendors need information provided by consumers to sell products and services. This work proposes three essays to explore online privacy behavior of internet users. The first essay examines the role of personal dispositions in impacting information sensitivity, privacy concern, and trust in the context of providing health ...