Abstract

Purpose: This work investigates how the digital health information behaviors of individuals, at personal and collective level, impact their health behaviors within primary healthcare settings, taking all the while into consideration a multitude of determining factors. This endeavor considers the potential impact “information poverty” and “information overload”, two opposite notions cast on individual’s health information behavior, and especially, on those of vulnerable or marginalized groups, while outlines how their health behaviors are negatively affected because of them. The radical digitalization of provided services has caused a navigation crisis for individuals that have low health literacy levels, poor digital competencies, or have limited accessibility of primary healthcare services that is reflected on their health status.

Background: Behavioral theories highlight how individual’s health behavior is shaped by their understanding of eminent health threats and any benefits deriving from taking precautionary actions; self-efficacy plays a critical role mediating the exhibited behavior, analogous to the sense of belonging, and information acquisition. Different information behavior macromodels have elaborated on the information seeking behavior manifested following specific triggers, that, within the context of navigating the primary healthcare services environment could be entering the system due to a primary health concern (of the individual), a secondary one (either following an invitation to participate in a public health initiative, or an inquiry made by a school, employer, etc.), or a mandate from health authorities. Personality has been recognized as an impactful parameter to one’s information seeking behaviors, mainly through mediating the effects of self-efficacy to health behavior. Information poverty refers to individuals and communities’ inability to seek, retrieve, and act upon this information due to socioeconomic constraints whereas information overload describes the overwhelming amount of information that individuals are exposed to, especially through mass media and social outlets.

Methods: A thorough literature review was conducted to identify human behavioral theories and information behavior macromodels applicable to portray, elaborate, and predict the health information behavior of individuals that try to navigate the complex primary healthcare environment. Several determining parameters to their information behaviors were as well mapped all the while different health outcomes were conceptually linked to the health information behavior manifested at personal and collective level.

Findings: A multitude of parameters at personal and societal level regulate how an individual will respond to his/her information needs triggered by entering the primary healthcare system given the challenges he/she faces as part of a vulnerable or marginalized group. The health information behaviors he/ she exhibits, at personal or/ and collective level, are determined gravely by his/her position in the information poverty-overload spectrum, that consequently impacts his/her health behaviors. This phenomenon is reflected both on health outcomes frequently observed among those populations including those of participation on public health initiatives, as well as, to the corresponding ratios of relevant health indexes.