How Do Adolescents Obtain Health Information

Abstract

Adolescent health literacy is a promising innovation in health education. This article reports the findings of research in the experience of adolescents in the methods they used in obtaining health information. A phenomenographic research approach was used to understand how adolescents conceptualized health information obtaining. The study examined data provided by 24 adolescents aged 13 to 16 living in Latvia. The data was collected through qualitative interviews. Phenomenographic data analysis uncovered five categories of description by adolescents in the way they perceived health information obtaining: 1. An opportunity to find out “things” regarding health; 2. The use of different sources of information to obtain health information; 3. The use of multimodal texts to obtain health information; 4. A passive method of obtaining information; and 5. An active method of obtaining information. It is important to integrate the experience of adolescents into health education research to develop a deeper understanding of the pedagogical phenomenon and to enhance health education programmes.