Understanding the importance of trust in patients’ coping with uncertainty via health information-seeking behaviors

Elena Link; Eva Baumann; Christoph Klimmt

doi:10.1515/commun-2021-0117

Article

Understanding the importance of trust in patients’ coping with uncertainty via health information-seeking behaviors

Elena Link , Eva Baumann and Christoph Klimmt

Published/Copyright: December 17, 2022

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From the journal Communications Volume 49 Issue 1

Abstract

Disease-related challenges are often associated with perceived uncertainties in individuals, triggering attempts to cope with the situation. Our study aims to understand patients’ coping strategies regarding health information-seeking behaviors (HISBs). It is guided by the Uncertainty Management Theory, and seeks to grant insights into multi-channel HISB by describing how uses of interpersonal and media channels interact to cope with uncertainties, and how trust influences the process of multi-channel HISB. Patients diagnosed with osteoarthrosis (N = 34) participated in qualitative semi-structured interviews, from which five patterns of multi-channel HISB, ranging from a focus on the physician to a focus on the internet, were identified. These patterns are distinguished by underlying functions of trust – including trust serving as an additional coping strategy, and as an important influencing factor for perceiving information as meaningful – and by whether information needs remain and patients turn to multiple sources. These findings form the basis for further theory development considering the iterative nature of HISB and the role of trust.

Keywords: trust; uncertainty management; multi-channel health information-seeking behavior; media sources; interpersonal sources; qualitative interviews

Acknowledgement

Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – SFB/TRR-298-SIIRI – Project-ID 426335750

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Appendix

Table A1:

List of main domains and examples of questions covered in the interviews.

Experienced uncertainty during the course of the disease, e. g.:

– ‘Please think back to when you first noticed symptoms of your disease. What have you experienced since then?’

– ‘When did you decide to have surgery? Why? What encouraged or prevented you from taking action?’

– ‘How did you feel during the course of your disease?’

– ‘For example, how did you feel, and what questions did you ask yourself,

– … when the first symptoms occurred?

– … when you received the recommendation to have surgery?

– … when you had to decide to have surgery?’

– ‘In which situations do you feel uncertain? Why? How do you handle moments in which you feel uncertain?’

– ‘In comparison: When did you feel safe and were certain about what to do now?’

Information seeking – processes and dynamics, e. g.:

‘How did you inform yourself about your disease, the implant, or the surgery since you noticed first symptoms/for the discussion about the implant and surgery/for your decision-making/after surgery?’

– ‘At what moments did you feel the need for more information?’

– ‘About which topics did you want to know more? Was there anything you didn’t want to know more about?’

– ‘From whom or where did you get helpful information and answers to your questions?’

Focusing on various information sources such as physicians, media health information, family and friends, other physicians, e. g.:

– ‘How would you describe the relationship between you and your physician? Why did you or did you not trust your physician?’

– ‘How would you describe your interactions with the doctor? How would you describe a typical appointment during treatment?’

– ‘How did the doctor explain the disease, the surgery, and the implant to you?’

– ‘Why were you satisfied or perhaps dissatisfied with the information provided by your physician?’

Media health information, e. g.:

– ‘How important was information from the media for this disease?’

– ‘Where did you find particularly valuable information or which media were superfluous for you? Why?’

– ‘For what reasons did you use information from newspapers/magazines/internet/forums? Do these have other functions than, for example, the physician?’

– ‘What role did the media or specific information from the media play in the surgery decision?’

– ‘In your view, was the information from the media trustworthy? Why?’

Interaction between various sources for health information, e. g.:

– ‘Looking back, I would be interested to know whom (people or sources) you trusted? And why?’

– ‘If you compare the different information sources and persons (such as family, physicians, but also media sources): How do you rate their trustworthiness? On whom did you rely, and how much, to make your decision?’

– ‘If you received different information on certain issues, how did you evaluate it and deal with these contradictions?’

Table A2:

Overview of the deductive coding scheme.

Health information-seeking behavior

Understanding of trust and its functions

Interaction between information sources

Specific for certain sources (physicians, media sources, family, and friends):

– Triggers

– Perceived uncertainty

– Topics/information needed

– Topics/information searched for

– Functions/utility/outcomes

– Trustworthiness (including its reasons)

– Definition and dimensions

– Functions

– Influencing factors

– Combination of sources

– Reasons to use more than one source, to combine specific sources

– Triggers to use more than one source, to combine specific sources

– Outcomes of combining specific sources

Published Online: 2022-12-17

Published in Print: 2024-03-01

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2021-0117

Keywords for this article

trust; uncertainty management; multi-channel health information-seeking behavior; media sources; interpersonal sources; qualitative interviews