Effects of Information Seeking Behavior to Health-related Quality of Life: Case of Aghios Nikolaos in Crete Island of Greece

Abstract

Introduction: The information system and management of diffusion of information determine greatly the way of building relationships and the decision making procedure. As a result, management of medical information is an important socioeconomic parameter which affects the health status and health related quality of citizen’s life. Aim: The aim of this study was the detection of relationships of information seeking behavior with health-related quality of life and informational population’s needs. Material and Method: The sample population consisted of 257 persons, while 150 persons took part in the survey (response rate 58,36%). The persons were interviewed at the central square of Aghios Nikolaos town of Crete Island according to a specially formed and structured questionnaire through personal interview during April to May 2015. Health related quality of life was estimated according to EQ-5D-3L scales. The analysis of the total received replies was conducted with the statistical pack IBM SPSS Statistics 21. Results: According to the results of the study, the most important driving needs concerning seeking health related information in internet were related to diseases, the nutrition, seeking of doctors, information about diagnostic tests as well as the understanding of doctors’ diagnosis, different diagnosis or remedies among doctors and physical exercise. Furthermore, doctors and the other health providers, Google and medical websites were the most important information resources. The major obstacles encountered during the study, was the complexity of informations, the foreign language of websites, the huge volume of unorganized information as well as the short durance of doctor appointments and the invalid information. The majority of the sample population didn’t have problems with walking, self-service and daily routine. A percentage of 23,3% and 36,2% felt medium pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression respectively. A percentage of 2% and 4,7% felt intense pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression respectively. There were also found that there are statistically related significant relationships between quality of life and age (p=0,040) as well as the physical exercise habits of population (p=0,035). Conclusions: The information seeking behavior should be addressed as an integral part of the development of information systems for general population and it has tremendous potentials in the improvement of health related quality of citizen’s life.