Factors influencing proxy online health information seeking among the elderly: A study from the perspective of the elderly with chronic illnesses

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With the ageing population in China and an increasing number of the elderly developing chronic illnesses, health services for the elderly have become a major concern. They have significant needs for health information (HI) such as online medical consultation, disease prevention, and medical insurance. OBJECTIVE: To explore the influencing factors and their relative significance in proxy online health information (OHI) seeking among the elderly with chronic illnesses so as to provide a reference for enriching theoretical research and optimizing care for the elderly with chronic illness. METHODS: Twenty-three elderly people with chronic illnesses participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews in this study. The interview transcripts were subject to three levels of coding (open, axial, and selective coding) based on grounded theory to determine the factors influencing proxy OHI seeking among the elderly and to understand how the main categories are interconnected. We used the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) process to analyze the hierarchy and associated pathways among the factors influencing proxy OHI seeking. RESULTS: From our analysis, we identified four main categories affecting proxy HI seeking: the health status, emotional needs, electronic HI literacy, and self-efficacy of the elderly. There were six subcategories that could be further subclassified into direct factors, key factors, and root factors, which constituted the hierarchical model of influencing factors. CONCLUSION: We found that proxy HI seeking among the elderly was directly triggered by self-efficacy and emotional needs following changes in their evaluation of health information and emotional needs, which originates from their perceptions of their health, concerns about their health, and information retrieval capability.