Preferences and Experiences of People with Chronic Illness in Using Different Sources of Health Information: Results of a Mixed-Methods Study

Svea Gille, Lennert Griese and Doris Schaeffer
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Svea Gille: Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Lennert Griese: Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Doris Schaeffer: Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: Background: People with chronic illness are particularly dependent on adequate health literacy (HL), but often report difficulties in accessing, understanding, appraising, and applying health information. To strengthen the HL of people with chronic illness, in-depth knowledge about how they deal with health information is crucial. Methods: To this end, quantitative data from the Second Health Literacy Survey Germany (HLS-GER 2) and qualitative data from seven focus group discussions were used to examine the interest in health information, preferred sources of information as well as experiences and challenges with information management among people with chronic illness. Results: The results show that people with chronic illness have a great interest in health information and use very different sources of health information, preferring personal information from physicians most. The results also point to several challenges in health information management that seem to be influenced by the illness duration as well as by the experiences made with the respective sources. Conclusions: Overall, the study provides important starting points for intervention development for the provision and communication of health-related information, but also to research on health information behavior and HL.

Keywords: health information sources; health literacy; focus groups; people with chronic illness; HLS-GER 2; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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