The recent growth in consumer autonomy in health care accompanied by the surge in the use of new media for health information gathering has led to an increasing scholarly interest in understanding the consumer health information search construct. This article explores consumer health information seeking in the realm of the primary sources of health information used by consumers. Based on an analysis of the 1999 HealthStyles data, the paper demonstrates that active communication channels such as interpersonal communication, print readership, and Internet communication serve as primary health information sources for health-conscious, health-information oriented individuals with strong health beliefs, and commitment to healthy activities. On the other hand, passive consumption channels such as television and radio serve as primary health information resources for individuals who are not health-oriented. Media planning implications are drawn from the results, suggesting that broadcast outlets with an entertai...

Even despite policy efforts aimed at reducing health-related disparities, evidence mounts that population-level gaps in literacy and healthcare quality are increasing. This widening of disparities in American culture is likely to worsen over the coming years due, in part, to our increasing reliance on Internet-based technologies to disseminate health information and services. The purpose of the current article is to incorporate health literacy into an Integrative Model of eHealth Use. We argue for this theoretical understanding of eHealth literacy and propose that macro-level disparities in social structures are connected to health disparities through the micro-level conduits of eHealth literacy, motivation, and ability. In other words, structural inequities reinforce themselves and continue to contribute to healthcare disparities through the differential distribution of technologies that simultaneously enhance and impede literacy, motivation, and ability of different groups (and individuals) in the population. We conclude the article by suggesting pragmatic implications of our analysis.

In recent reviews of the body of work on health campaigns, communication scholars discussed the importance of reflective thinking about the capacity of campaigns to effect change; this reflective thinking is especially important in the realm of the increasing gaps in society between the health rich and the health poor and the increasing marginalization of the poorer sections of society. This article critically reviews 3 central theories of health communication campaigns that represent the dominant cognitive approach: theory of reasoned action, health belief model, and the extended parallel process model. After articulating the limitations of these theoretical approaches, the article summarizes new directions in theory, methodology, and application of health communication campaigns targeting marginalized populations.

Health Attitudes, Health Cognitions, and Health Behaviors among Internet Health Information Seekers: Population-Based Survey

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet