The Analysis of Health Related Behavior after Using Health Information on the Internet / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the health information such as the general health information, the health product information, and the hospital information, and we wanted to identify the association between internet health information and the health related behavior by analyzing the process after people search the Internet. METHODS: A telephone survey with structured questionnaire was performed by trained surveyors. The respondents were sampled proportionate to the Korean demographic distribution with considering the city size and the populations' ages and gender. The survey was conducted from October 2006 to November 2006. RESULTS: Out of 3,758 successfully connected persons of age 20 or more, 871(23.2%) respondents had used Internet health information during the last year. The purposes of searching the Internet for health was, 1) to get general health information (717 cases, 81.0%), 2) shopping for health product (109 cases, 12.3%) and 3) seeking information about hospital selection (59 cases, 6.7%). Our research showed that the process after searching the Internet for health information depends on the purpose of the search. 68.8% of the searchers for general health information, 67% of the searchers for health product shopping and 64.4% of the searchers seeking information to guide hospital selection were satisfied with their Internet search. However one third of the respondents reported not being satisfied with the result of the search. CONCLUSIONS: Unsatisfied consumers with internet health information tended to ask lay referrals from others or they gave up seeking health information. The health information system should be improved to increase the accessibility and to provide reliable and effective information. Also, a more user-centric community is needed in order to strengthen the effective role of lay referrals among the internet users.

The Factors Influencing Korean Health Behavior / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was performed to investigate the factors influencing health behavior. METHOD: Data used in this study was drawn from a 2001 National Health survey done by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Number of samples were 5,085 people between age 20 years and 69 years in whole country. In this study, we modified Green and Kreuter's Precede-Proceed model to analyse influence of factors in health behavior. Hierarchical regression were used in the analysis. RESULT: 1) Factors that had statistically significant positive relation with overall health behavior were age, educational level, income level, disease in the family, medical examination, subjective weight, and concern about health, 2) Factors that had statistically significant negative relation with overall health behavior were sex, subjective health, stress, and degree of physical activity. CONCLUSION: 1) It would be necessary to set the target group for the health promotion in advance. 2) It was very important to adopt easy and efficient methods to change the health behavior of target group, for example, ability to control stress.