Research On The Influencing Factors Of Online Health Information Seeking Intention

Using the Internet to seek health information has gradually become a new way for people to deal with health threats.On the one hand,with the rapid development of network technology,almost everyone can access the network anytime and anywhere,some may suffer with information overload;On the other hand,people's health awareness is enhanced and their demand for health information is more urgent.However,the performance of people's online heath information seeking is still await to be improved and the influencing factors of online health information seeking intension need to be well studied.Based on the protection motivation theory,this study built a research model of online health information seeking intention which combined the threat appraisal construct and coping appraisal construct of protection motivation,and information perception construct according to elaboration likelihood model.Perceived vulnerability and perceived severity of threat appraisal construct,response efficacy,response cost,electronic health literacy and health numeracy of coping appraisal construct,information quality and information source credibility of information perception constituted the 8 independent variables in this study.16 research hypotheses were put forward;Then,the questionnaire and SPSS 22.0 were used to collect data and pretest the questionnaire;Then,a total of 352 valid questionnaires were obtained.Amos 24.0 was used to analyze the measurement model and structural model of the structural equation model.The measurement model analysis includes reliability analysis and validity analysis.Structural model analysis includes model fitness analysis,path analysis and mediation analysis.The study found out that:(1)For the threat appraisal construct,perceived vulnerability had a significant positive effect on online health information seeking intention;perceived severity had no significant positive effect on online health information seeking intention.(2)For the coping appraisal construct,response efficacy had a significant positive effect on online health information seeking intention;response cost had no significant negative effect on online health information seeking intention;electronic health literacy had a significant positive effect on information quality and information source credibility;health numeracy had a significant positive effect on information quality and information source credibility.(3)For the information perception construct,information quality had no significant positive effect on online health information seeking intention;information source credibility had a significant positive effect on online health information seeking intention.(4)The result of mediation analysis showed that electronic health literacy positively affected online health information intention through the indirect-only mediation of information source credibility;health numeracy positively affected online health information intention not only through the direct-only effect,but also through the complementary mediation of information source credibility.Finally,according to the research results,this study proposed specific countermeasures and Suggestions on how to promote people to use the Internet to seek health information from the perspectives from government,the information platform as well as the user.