Innovative methods in health information behaviour research
| Date | 18 November 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-11-2019-314 |
| Published date | 18 November 2019 |
| Pages | 693-702 |
| Author | Ina Fourie,Heidi Julien |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Guest editorial
Innovative methods in health information behaviour research
Introduction
Regardless of numerous attempts to expand studies in termsof the scope of diseases, disease
phases and treatment contexts, such as hospitals vs home-care, frustrations about unmet
information needs prevail, especially amongst patients and caregivers. Ongoing attempts to
improve patient communication and education and innovative methods of sharing
information are also not fully succeeding in addressing information needs and preferences
( Johnson and Case, 2012).For example, Davies et al. (2010, p. e861)show the impact of a lack
of informationon the quality of life of a Spanish-speakingmother of a child in palliative care.
During a month’s stay, she washed in her child’s bathroom sink because she received no
orientation regarding available facilities. She feared asking questions. “Ididn’tknow.
I thought if I asked someone they would answer me in English, and I wouldn’t be able to
communicate”. Numerous similar examplescan be found in the literature (Fourie, 2012;Fourie
and Nesset, 2017). Not onlypatients and their caregivers, but health professionals are also in
dire need of information that suits their needs (Johnson and Case, 2012). Globally millions of
people are affectedby diseases and sporadic epidemicoutbursts (World Health Organization,
2019) –the numbers of people affected, the challenges faced and the fact that health
informationseeking research are now also focussing on theongoing need to stay healthy and
to collect information on personal activities such as tracking, and necessitate the need to
extend how we study health information seeking. Against this background, the purpose of
this special issue was to turn to innovative research methods as one approach to deepen
understanding of health information behaviour.
For purposes of this introduction, information behaviour refers to all information-related
activities and encounters, including information seeking, information searching, browsing,
recognising and expressing information needs, information encountering, information
avoidance and information use (Fourie and Julien, 2014 –acknowledging definitions by
well-known researchers such as Donald Case, Reijo Savolainen and Tom Wilson). This
interpretation can also allow for information practice. According to Savolainen (2007, p. 127), the
major difference between the two concepts is that in the discourse on information behaviour,
the “dealing with information”is primarily seen to be triggered by needs and motives, while the
discourse on information practice accentuates the continuity and habitualisation of activities
affected and shaped by social and cultural factors. Both “information behaviour”and
“information practice”are used in the papers included in this special issue.
In the Call for Papers, we stated that health information behaviour research can benefit
from studies using a range of more innovative methods, including participatory methods,
visual research methods, metaphor identification, methods focussing on embodiment,
discursiveresearch methods such as narratives and traditional storytelling, autoethnography,
and agile research methodology. Although these were not all covered in the submissions,
contributors to this issue brought other valuable methods to our attention. In the call, we
highlightedtwo core issues: a criticalassessment of the method, andits particular value for the
group studied.Eight contributions addressing innovative methods usedin health information
behaviour and practice research are included in this special issue.
The contributions bring value by highlighting the:
•diversity of groups that need to be studied: patients, caregivers, physicians
(and other health professionals) and institutional perspectives;
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 71 No. 6, 2019
pp. 693-702
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-11-2019-314
693
Guest editorial
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