Online information seeking behaviour among people living with HIV in selected public hospitals of Tanzania
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-06-2016-0038 |
| Published date | 13 March 2017 |
| Pages | 94-115 |
| Date | 13 March 2017 |
| Author | Edda Tandi Lwoga,Tumaini Nagu,Alfred Said Sife |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Information & communications technology |
Online information seeking
behaviour among people living
with HIV in selected public
hospitals of Tanzania
Edda Tandi Lwoga
Directorate of Library Services, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Tumaini Nagu
Department of Internal Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and
Allied Sciences School of Medicine, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and
Alfred Said Sife
Sokoine National Agricultural Library, Sokoine University of Agriculture,
Morogoro, Tanzania
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to determine factors that influence people living with HIV (PLHIV) to
engage in internet-based HIV information seeking behaviour in selected Tanzanian public regional
hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 221
PLHIV in two regional public hospitals in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They assessed the
validity and reliability of the measurement model by using exploratory factor analysis and also used
hierarchical regressions to examine the research hypotheses by using Statistical Package for Social
Science.
Findings –The study found that there is low usage of internet (24.3 per cent) to search online
HIV information. Factors related to attitude and information source accessibility predicted usage
intentions of internet, while facilitating conditions, information source accessibility and usage
intention of internet determined actual use of internet among PLHIV. Age moderated the effects
of information source quality and social influence on usage intention of internet, and the effects
of the information source accessibility and social influence on actual use of internet. The findings
imply that younger PLHIV were more likely to use internet to access HIV information than the
older respondents due to perceived ease of accessing information and quality of the online
content. Further, older PLHIV were more influenced by the views of others when making
decisions to use internet.
Practical implications –Health-care providers and libraries need to conduct regular studies on
health needs of patients, and promote benefits of accessing online information; website designers
need to design user-friendly databases; public libraries need to include a section on health
information; hospital and public librarians need to provide catalogues of health information
resources on their websites; and health-care providers need to improve technological
infrastructure.
The authors would like to acknowledge the role of the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida) for funding this research.
JSIT
19,1/2
94
Received14 June 2016
Revised15 March 2017
Accepted17 April 2017
Journalof Systems and
InformationTechnology
Vol.19 No. 1/2, 2017
pp. 94-115
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-06-2016-0038
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
Originality/value –This is a comprehensivestudy that provides empirical findings to better understand
the HIV information seeking behaviour from actual internet users, particularly factors that may influence
PLHIV to seek onlineinformation in Tanzania.
Keywords Information behaviour, Tanzania, Internet, Information seeking behaviour,
Health information, HIV information
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is one
of the serious public health threats in the world.In 2015, approximately 36.7 million people
were infected with HIV worldwide, and more than two-thirds of these live in sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) (The Joint United Nations Programmeon HIV/AIDS, 2016). In Tanzania, there
were about 1.4 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), and 36,000 HIV/AIDS deaths
occurred in the country in 2015 (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 2016).
Scale up of anti-retroviral therapy(ART) has shown increased life expectancy in some parts
of SSA, and therefore, ART is likely to turn the disease into a chronic infection (Bor et al.,
2013). About 10.3 million (54 per cent) people were accessing ART in eastern and southern
Africa (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 2016). Despite the fact that we
need socio-economic and political measuresto lower the HIV burden, access to relevant and
timely HIV informationby PLHIV can enable them to make strategic choice anddecisions to
live a healthy life.
When engaged in information seeking process, PLHIV are more likely to increase their
level of knowledge, makeinformed decisions, change their behaviour, increase abilityto self-
care and more committed to treatment, reduce level of their anxiety and fear and increase
quality of their health, hope and empowerment (Zare-Farashbandi and Lalazaryan, 2014).
Information seekingis a process in which a person engages to find informationto fulfill their
needs and meet some goals (Albright, 2007). In the process of seeking information, an
individual may encounter formal sources of information (e.g. health-care providers) or
informal sourcesof information that she/he interacts with everyday(Kuhlthau, 1991).
Advancements in internet technologieshave immensely increased access to information
including that on health (Boot and Meijman, 2010;Chang and Im, 2014;Kalichman et al.,
2002,2005). Tanzania has 7.5 million internet users, with a penetrationrate of 14.5 per cent
as of June 2016 (Internet World Stats, 2016). Previous studies (Chilimo and Nawe, 2004;
Mboera et al.,2007;Montez, 2011;Mosha and Sulemani, 2012;Mwaisweloand Masalu, 2008)
in Tanzania have shownthat the general health information seeking behaviour of patientsis
characterized by a preference for inter-personal communication with Human Resource for
Health (HRH) and patients’close contacts and their networks, and mass media, especially
radio. Consistently, studies on HIV showed a similar pattern that the main sources of HIV
information were direct contactswith HRH, relatives and mass media. A study of PLHIV in
Iringa revealed that health-care providers, television, radio, relatives and religious leaders
were the major sources of HIV information (Rumisha et al.,2006). Another study in
Kilimanjaro showed thatthe major sources of HIV information and young peoplewere print
materials (such as books, journals, magazines and research reports) and other sources
(television, internet, DVD/CD, radio) (Mosha and Manda, 2012). These studies demonstrate
that internet technologiesare yet to be fully used by PLHIV in Tanzania to get access to HIV
information. Likewise, research on general health information seeking behaviour revealed
that advanced technologies such as internet and SMS-text messaging were rarely used
(Montez, 2011). Nonetheless, internet and mobile phones can contribute to improved
Online
information
seeking
behaviour
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