Health Information and Libraries Journal最新文献

The rigours of the past few years have demonstrated the importance of good health literacy levels with the imperative of being able to obtain and interpret information to maintain and improve one's health never more apparent. With this in mind, this issue is focused on consumer health information, the gender and population group differences that exist in information seeking behaviour, the challenges of understanding medical explanations and terminology, and existing criteria to assess and ultimately produce better consumer health information.

From the point of view of the development of libraries, technology has made possible the emergence and development of library automation; digital libraries; mobile libraries; and smart libraries. This article briefly describes the impact of technological developments and application in Health Science Libraries in China in relation to collections development, service provision and the role of library associations.

Background: Information is critical for patients having to decide about the best treatment option, and an in-depth understanding of their information behaviour can help health and information services to improve and facilitate their access to reliable information.

Objective: To investigate the health information-seeking behaviour and information sources and their roles in decision making among breast cancer patients in Romania in the context of the surgical treatment.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 patients who were treated surgically for breast cancer at the Bucharest Oncology Institute.

Results: Most participants searched for information independently, before and after the operation, and their information needs evolved during the progression of their disease. The surgeon was regarded as the most trusted source of information. Most patients adopted a paternalistic or a shared approach for decision making.

Discussion: Besides findings consistent with research from other countries, our study also revealed findings in contrast to previous research. None of the interviewed patients made any reference to the library as a source of information even if books were mentioned.

Conclusions: Health information specialists should develop a detailed guide and online information services to help physicians and other health professionals to provide relevant and reliable health care information to surgical inpatients from Romania.

Background: As more people across Generations X, Y, and Z continue to use the Internet meet their information needs, this study assesses the characteristics influencing the online health information seeking behaviour (OHISB) of non-medical university students. Previous studies on the subject in Nigeria have largely assessed the concept of OHISB among university students without examining the determinants of such behaviour.

Objective: To determine the predictors of OHISB among non-medical undergraduate students of a Nigerian private university.

Methods: Adopting a cross-sectional research design, the study utilized a semi-structured questionnaire administered via Google forms. Some 361 non-medical undergraduate students were recruited purposively with a response rate of 84.2%. The questionnaire obtained data on students' socio-demographics, Internet usage, and OHISB.

Results: Presence of a chronic condition, gender, and college showed significant associations with students' OHISB. 'Mothers' occupation' and 'prior experience' became significant predictors of students' OHISB.

Discussion: The results align with studies that stressed that chronically ill persons would search for health information on the internet and that presence of chronic illness is among the predictors of OHISB.

Conclusion: These findings add to evidence from other countries that had identified health literacy and presence of chronic illness as significant predictors of OHISB among students.

Background: Bibliometric methods may be used to examine research trends, and information visualisation techniques are useful in illustrating the diffusion of knowledge and how theories are applied.

Objectives: The present study aimed to illustrate how Orem's Self-Care Deficiency Nursing Theory (SCDNT) has been cited and applied in nursing science and beyond.

Methods: A bibliometric analysis examined scientific publications that cited Orem's nursing theory. In addition, the diffusion of SCDNT was assessed using data visualisation methods and integration scores of SCDNT versions were calculated to define trends in its theoretical usage in other scientific domains.

Results: The information visualisation demonstrated increased usage of SCDTN in different disciplines. Integration scores demonstrated that the scientific community still recognises and uses versions of SCDTN.

Discussion: Studying citation patterns helps to identify which publications are still cited and relevant, as well as illustrating the dissemination of theory. Findings may be used in the collection weeding of SCDTN book versions.

Conclusions: Findings provided nursing scientists with a better conceptual understanding of SCDNT diffusion and development. For academic library managers, the findings identify which SCDNT should be retained for historical interest and curriculum needs.

This Regular Feature is based on a PhD study assessing the level of health literacy among university students in Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey was carried out using the validated European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU-Q) and non-parametric tests used to analyse data with the aim of determining the influence of personal determinants on health literacy skills. The findings of the study concluded that the population had a low health literacy level with limited skills in accessing, understanding, appraising and applying information for health care. Gender, age, and native languages, all had a statistically significant influence on health literacy skills. Practical implications are presented for the role of university libraries in supporting the development of health literacy in their undergraduate student populations are presented, including the need for the provision of health information in native languages.