Information need and seeking behaviour during pandemic flu (H1N1-2009) outbreak.

Due to the plethora of types and sources of information, the crossroads between health information providers and healthcare utilisation patterns for the consumers are becoming apparent. Hence health information providers must be of high quality and efficient in delivering relevant information especially during health crisis. It is challenging to envisage the effectiveness of communication strategies and understand the characteristic pattern of a society in accessing the health information. In dealing effectively with the information needs of society, it requires information providers to identify the nature of information in the social and local contexts in which they exist. The aim of this study is to investigate the information seeking behaviour of the general public with particular focus on information needs that appear to be influenced by many events that took place during pandemic emergency preparedness and its subsequent response. The study also identified the type of information sources used and the problems associated with using H1N1 related information. A twenty-six item questionnaire comprising five sections was used for data collection. Two hundred and sixty working adults and students participated in this study. Majority of the participants identified ‘prevention and control’, ‘sign and symptom’, and ‘causes and treatment’ as the most crucial H1N1 related information needs. Like many previous studies, the result revealed that media and human sources were the most frequently accessed information sources. It was found that majority of the participants chose television, newspaper and radio for information and surprisingly only a few actually accessed the news website. Almost three-quarters of the participants indicated that the gathered information would help them to take better care of themselves. A majority of the participants also said they would seek doctor’s advice immediately when they suspected having H1N1 type of symptoms. It was a matter of concern that most respondents were less frequently using on-line sources such as health-related websites.Master of Science (Information Studies