Web-based health information seeking. A small-scale comparative study between Finnish and South African university students

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-08-2018-0109
Date18 November 2019
Published date18 November 2019
Pages933-944
AuthorAnnika Rantala,Heidi Enwald,Sandy Zinn
Subject MatterLibrary & information science
Web-based health
information seeking
A small-scale comparative study between
Finnish and South African university students
Annika Rantala and Heidi Enwald
Department of Information Studies, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, and
Sandy Zinn
Department of Library & Information Science,
University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine differences of health information seeking among Finnish
and South African university students. The focus is on weight management and on how students utilise
various internet sources.
Design/methodology/approach Data were collected with a web-based, structured survey by using
convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics and Pearsonsχ
2
test were utilised in the analysis.
Findings Overall, health information was more often encountered than sought on purpose. Passive
information seeking was more common for South African students as almost a third of them report
encountering it several times a week. As an information source, South African students opted for social
networking sites more frequently than search engines, the latter being the first choice for Finnish students.
Discussion boards were more popular among South African students, and, on the other hand, web-based
health calculators among Finns.
Research limitations/implications This is a small-scale comparative study. The results are not to be
generalised,but may provideclues about the informationseeking differencesbetween Finlandand South Africa.
Practical implications Media literacy, digital literacy and health information literacy of young adults
should be emphasised so that they would be able to evaluateinformation for reliability and accuracy in order
to help them make appropriate decisions when confronted by health information online.
Social implications The implications of the study are that health providers and professionals should be
more prominent on social media sites, which are popular ways for young people to discover information.
Originality/value Comparative studies are rare. This comparison is between Finland, where internet
penetration is 94 per cent, and South Africa, where internet penetration is 54 per cent.
Keywords Internet, Information seeking
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This is a comparative study among university students living in Finland and South Africa.
The University of the Western Cape and Finnish universities, including the University of
Oulu, developed close ties over a period of four to five years working together on intensive
courses of common interest. This current study is motivated by this long-standing
collaboration. The general aim of the research is to examine differences of health-related
information seeking. The focus is on the university studentsweight management and on
how they utilise various internet sources. Comparative studies are rare and this approach is
valuable for the research field. At the same time, there have not been many studies on health
information seeking using the internet among young adults in Africa.
This study continues in the footsteps of Askola et al. (2010), a study that aimed to
identify cultural and national differences in the information environment and information
practices, namely, active seeking and encountering, of web-based health information
between Finnish and Japanese university students. In this study, Finnish respondents are
compared to South African respondents.
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 37 No. 4, 2019
pp. 933-944
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-08-2018-0109
Received 25 August 2018
Revised 1 February 2019
12 March 2019
Accepted 15 March 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
933
Web-based
health
information
seeking

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