Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-4-2024
Abstract
Background
Individuals with chronic diseases often search for health information online. The Diabetes Online Community (DOC) is an active community with members who exchange health information; however, few studies have examined health information brokering in the DOC.
Objective
The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Attitudes Toward Seeking Health Information Online (ATSHIO) scale in a sample of adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Methods
People with T1D were recruited through the DOC, specifically Facebook and Twitter. They were provided with a Qualtrics link to complete the survey. This was a mixed methods study that used thematic analysis along with existing theory and formative research to design the quantitative ATSHIO scale.
Results
A total of 166 people with T1D participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analyses determined a 2-factor scale (Trusting and Evaluating Online Health Information in the DOC and Engaging With Online Health Information in the DOC) with good convergent validity and discriminant validity. Correlations were found between social support, online health information–seeking, diabetes distress, and disease management.
Conclusions
The ATSHIO scale can be used to investigate how people with diabetes are using the internet for obtaining health information, which is especially relevant in the age of telehealth and Health 2.0.
Recommended Citation
Hughes, A. S., Beach, S., Vasistha, S., Heydarian, N., & Morera, O. (2024). Development and Validation of a Measure for Seeking Health Information in the Diabetes Online Community: Mixed Methods Study. JMIR diabetes, 9, e55424. https://doi.org/10.2196/55424
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2196/55424
Comments
Copyright ©Allyson S Hughes, Sarah Beach, Spruhaa Vasistha, Nazanin Heydarian, Osvaldo Morera. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Diabetes, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://diabetes.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.