Consumer Health Information Needs, Seeking and Searching Behavior by Rural Residents in the Kachia Grazing Reserve, with a Focus on Vector-Borne Diseases
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University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2019 Consumer Health Information Needs, Seeking and Searching Behavior By Rural Residents in the Kachia Grazing Reserve, with a Focus on Vector-borne Diseases Musa Dauda Hassan University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Library and Information Science Commons, and the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Hassan, Musa Dauda, "Consumer Health Information Needs, Seeking and Searching Behavior By Rural Residents in the Kachia Grazing Reserve, with a Focus on Vector-borne Diseases" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2310. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2310 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION NEEDS, SEEKING AND SEARCHING BEHAVIOR BY RURAL RESIDENTS IN THE KACHIA GRAZING RESERVE, WITH A FOCUS ON VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES by Musa Dauda Hassan A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Studies at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee December 2019 ABSTRACT CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION NEEDS, SEEKING AND SEARCHING BEHAVIOR BY RURAL RESIDENTS IN THE KACHIA GRAZING RESERVE, WITH A FOCUS ON VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES by Musa Dauda Hassan The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2019 Under the Supervision of Professor Wolfram Dietmar, PhD Information is considered the basic material for making decisions. People from all walks of life have information needs for business and personal use. Consumer Health Information (CHI) is an emerging form of information made accessible to the layperson. It is a simplified form of information from the types of information available to medical professionals. This study examines the health information behavior of the residents of one region in the Kachia Grazing Reserve (KGR) located in the North West of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. This dissertation explores the health information needs, seeking and searching behavior of the residents of selected communities that are affected by two vector-borne fly diseases in Nigeria. Insects such as flies are responsible for the transmission of diseases to humans, including trypanosomiasis, caused by the tsetse fly, and malaria, caused by mosquitos. These flies are commonly found in and affect mostly rural dwellers in Nigeria. This study investigates some of the broader contextual issues that may influence consumer health care needs as well as seeking-searching behavior. It asks participants whether they believe their health information needs are being met or not. The study applied a qualitative approach sampling 50 adult participants. It relied on a triangulation data collection method using a questionnaire, interview instrument, and focus group discussion. NVivo version 12 was used in the data analysis to create a coding scheme following the stages of open, axial, and selective coding processes to develop a grounded theory of rural residents’ information behaviors. The findings of the research revealed ii various health information needs and seeking behavior the rural residents engaged in; it also revealed the factors that influenced their seeking and searching activities. Furthermore, the findings highlighted the information sources they used, and the problems associated with the information-seeking and searching process. The model that was inductively derived from the grounded theory data analysis explains further in detail the strategies and processes members of the community use in their health information-seeking and health-searching behavior. iii © Copyright by Musa Dauda Hassan, 2019 All Rights Reserved iv Dedicated to my late parents Dauda Hassan/ Ramlah Musa and especially my family: Hajara, Haleemah, Abdulhaleem, and Ramlah v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dissertation Cover Page . .. .. i Abstract . .. .. ii Copyright Page . ... iii List of Figures . .. iv List of Tables . ... vi List of Abbreviations . … . .. vii Most Frequent Key Terms/Words and their Meaning. .. … . .x Acknowledgements . .... xii Dedication . ... .. xiii CHAPTER 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview and Context of the Research ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Scope and Rationale of the Study ......................................................................................... 2 1.3 Statement of the Problem ..................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Research Questions ............................................................................................................ 10 1.5 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................... 13 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 13 2.1 Underlying Concepts .......................................................................................................... 13 2.1.1 The Concept of Information ............................................................................................... 13 2.1.2 Information Needs, Seeking and Behavior ......................................................................... 14 2.1.3 Information Need................................................................................................................ 15 2.1.4 Information-Seeking Behavior ........................................................................................... 16 2.1.5 Information-Searching Behavior ........................................................................................ 17 2.1.6 Factors Influencing Information Needs .............................................................................. 18 2.1.7 Factors Influencing Information-seeking and Searching Behaviors .................................. 22 2.2 Theoretical Framework for Information Needs and for Seeking and Searching Behavior 34 2.2.1 Overview of Theories and Models of Information Needs and of Seeking and Searching Behaviors ............................................................................................................................ 35 2.2.2 Information Needs and Seeking and Searching Theories and Models ............................... 36 2.2.3 Theories and Models of Health Information-Seeking Behaviors ....................................... 45 2.3 Significance of Information for Rural Communities .......................................................... 62 2.3.1 Information Needs, Seeking and Searching Behavior of Rural Dwellers in Developed Countries ............................................................................................................................ 63 vi 2.3.2 Information Needs and Seeking and Searching Behavior of Rural Dwellers in Developing Countries ............................................................................................................................ 66 2.3.3 Health and Information Needs, Seeking and Searching Behavior of Rural Dwellers in Nigeria ................................................................................................................................ 70 2.4 Research on Consumer Health Information ....................................................................... 72 2.4.1 Consumer Health Information Needs and Seeking and Searching Behaviors .................... 72 2.4.2 Consumer Health Information Needs, Seeking and Searching Behavior in Nigeria .......... 80 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 84 CHAPTER 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 86 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 86 3.1 Research Design and Procedure ......................................................................................... 86 3.1.1 Rationale for a Qualitative Methodology ........................................................................... 86 3.2 Justification for Using a Case Study................................................................................... 89 3.2.1 Justification for the Research Location .............................................................................. 93 3.2.2 Study Population and Sample ........................................................................................... 106 3.3 Data Collection Methods .................................................................................................