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Objective To investigate the factors influencing the daily life information searching behaviors in elderly people receiving different old-age services.Methods The factors influencing the daily life information searching behaviors in 1178 elderly people with their age >60 years receiving different old-age services in the central region of China were investigated with questionnaire and assessed according to self-designed daily life information search-ing scale .Results The total score of daily life information searching behaviors in elderly people receiving home-, community-and institution-based old-age service was 62 .63 ±13 .13 , 65 .16 ±13 .37 ,and 57 .84 ±11 .98 , respec-tively.Age, health state, education level, body factors, insufficient equipments, and information search ability were the factors influencing the daily life information searching behaviors in elderly people .Conclusion Old-age service should be strengthened and the daily life information searching ability of elderly people should be improved according to the factors that influence their daily life information searching behaviors .
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OBJECTIVES: To investigate the information searching behavior of health care consumers according to sociodemographic characteristics. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted of 1,507 persons who were selected through a multi-stage stratified area cluster sampling of the Republic of Korea, excluding the province of Jeju-do. Personal were conducted through a door-to-door survey between 27 July and 10 August 1999. RESULTS: 80.5% of respondents used more than one source of information and those 40~59 years of age, female, a housewife or student and those who claimed a religion demonstrated more active information searching behavior. A personal informer was used significantly more in those 20~39 years old, female, and those who claimed a religion. Clerical workers, those with post-secondary education and a monthly income greater than 2,000,000 won ($1500) were more actively used a public informer. Low socioeconomic status and older persons used an experimental informer when they chose a health care institution. CONCLUSION: Regardless of the sociodemographic characteristics, personal and experimental informers were the most useful source of information. Because appropriate information was not easy to obtain, the health care consumer was dependent upon word-of-mouth communication(personal informer) when using health care services.