Online health information seeking and adolescents' intention towards health self-management

Abstract

The widespread availability of healthcare websites has changed the traditional healthcare system by enabling patients to play an active role in health management. The emerging field of Health 2.0 has enabled both professionals and patients to engage in content generation; changing the traditionally accepted professional healthcare to a new dimension of patient-centric healthcare. With the easy access to health information online, patients are turning to the Internet to look up for symptoms, diagnose health problems, or determine treatment procedures. Anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals' health management practices can be highly influenced by online health information. Considering the psychological characteristics of adolescents and their high exposure to the Internet, this study investigates the mechanisms of how online health information can motivate adolescents' behavioral intention towards self-management of their health issues. Our results showed that empowerment, attitude towards the website and privacy concerns significantly predict adolescents' health self-management behavior. Our findings also revealed that perceived health threat is not directly influencing the intention to self-managed health but instead interacts with other factors to influence intention. The findings provide important implications for theory and practice, by providing a better understanding of an emerging field of health care.