Health Information Seeking Behaviour On The Internet In Ghana: A Survey Of Graduate Students At Knust.

ABSTRACT The Internet is transforming the way in which consumers seek for health information to approach their health care and needs. The purpose of this study was to investigate health information seeking behaviour on the Internet among graduate students in KNUST. Grounded in the tradition of human health and information seeking literature, the study was underpinned by Johnson‟s Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS) theory. The study adopted a quantitative method using a cross-sectional survey approach. The study involved a sample of 256 and restricted to graduate students studying courses related to health in the Arts and Social Sciences and Sciences (Sociology, Medicine, Allied Heath and Pharmacy). Data was analysed using SPSS version 17.0 and presented by means of both simple descriptive and inferential statistics with a response rate of 77.3 %. Results showed that most of the respondents used search engines, nonadvertising Internet sources, and social media networks to source for health information on the Internet. The respondents preferred the Internet because it was timely, fast and provided information from different sources simultaneously. They also indicated that it provided lots of very useful information on preventive medicine and also ensures the confidentiality and anonymity of health information seekers. The type(s) of health information mostly sought for were general information on healthy lifestyle, specific information about a specific disease or treatment, information on the side effects of medications, information about new development in the medical field among others. Majority (90.9 %) of the respondents trusted the health information on the Internet. xviii Surprisingly, majority (56.6 %) did not verify the information obtained online with medical practitioners although they had concerns with online health information. As for the demographic characteristics (gender and age) of the respondents, only age was found to be influenced by (be an antecedent of) (p