Information-seeking Behaviour of Women Regarding Food Related Health and Hygiene Practices

ABSTRACT

The present study was undertaken with the objectives to identify the information-seeking behaviour of women regarding food related health and hygiene practices, and to ascertain the relationship of information-seeking behaviour of women with their personal and socio-economic characteristics. The study was conducted in both the rural and urban areas of Ludhiana district of Punjab, India. A total of 200 women formed the sample for the study, and data was collected with the help of an interview schedule. Information-seeking behaviour was studied in terms of information needs, use of information sources and information source evaluation. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents had low information needs for selected food related health and hygiene practices. Informal sources (like family, friends, neighbours and relatives) were the most frequently used sources of information, whereas use of all information sources i.e. formal sources, informal sources and mass media were found to be low by most of the respondents. Information sources were never evaluated by the majority of the respondents while looking for information on food related health and hygiene practices. Most of the respondents possessed passive information-seeking behaviour for food related health and hygiene practices. Information-seeking behaviour of the respondents was positively correlated with their education, caste, family income and mass media exposure while age of the respondents was negatively correlated with their information-seeking behaviour.