Jennie A. Abrahamson|Karen Fisher|Anne G. Turner|Joan C. Durrance|Tammara Combs Turner
Lay information mediary behavior uncovered: exploring how nonprofessionals seek health information for themselves and others online
Oregon Health & Science University|University of Washington|University of Michigan–Ann Arbor|South University|Microsoft (United States)
research studied motivations barriers effects online health information seeking explored lay information mediary behavior limb characteristics consumer health information domain lay information mediaries lims seek information behalf others without necessarily asked engaging follow represented 50 health information seekers prior studiesa webbased survey posted nc health info nchi 211 respondents selfidentified per information need brought nchi 20 lims n 43 58 direct users n 122 22 health information providers n 46 followup telephone interviews performed 10 n 21 interview analysis focused lay participants n 15 lims direct users combined interviewees reclassified postsurvey 12 lims 3 direct users studied information behavior extended beyond nchi search interview data analyzed using grounded theory approachsurveyed lims 77 female n 33 searched behalf family members 81 n 35 people felt extremely close 77 n 33 lims reported various information seeking barriers sometimes often lims searched mostly without prompting 51 n 22 interview results triangulated survey findings regarding gender tie strength promptinglimb may related gender relationship tie strength appears internally externally motivated limb research warranted