The Middle-aged And Elderly Study Of The Uses And Gratification On Internet Health Information

With the rapid development of the internet,and because of the convenience and the interaction,it has been one of the major sources people gaining health-related information.At present there are large number of domestic health websites about variety of health topics,which provide mass of information also mixed with incorrect information. Based on uses and gratification theory, this study focuses on internet health information, aiming to explore the connections between behavior, motivation and gratification of the middle-aged and elderly internet users.In this paper,the study uses quantitative survey methodology to the internet questionnaire, and explores and analyses how the middle-aged and elderly use the internet health information and satisfied with that. This study is trying to give a preliminary discussion about internet health information and enrich Health Communication in China.The study finds that the middle-aged and elderly internet users are mainly males, middle-aged,with higher education and stable job, most have not yet retired, and more concerned about their health. Such people hare three types of usage motivation, information acquisition motivition,the strongest, followed by the internet motivition,and social association motivition,the weakest. Three types of gratification are gained,decision support gratification and communication gratification, the stronger, followed by information gratification. Furthermore, the study finds that the information acquisition motivition and information gratification has a positive correlation;social associations motivition and decision support gratification and communication gratification are positively correlated;and the internet motivition and decision support gratification has a positive correlation.