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. 2016 Feb 16;11(2):e0148751.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148751. eCollection 2016.

Examining Associations between Health Information Seeking Behavior and Adult Education Status in the U.S.: An Analysis of the 2012 PIAAC Data

Iris Feinberg  1 , Jan Frijters  2 , Vicki Johnson-Lawrence  3 , Daphne Greenberg  4 , Elena Nightingale  5 , Chelsea Moodie  5
Affiliations

Examining Associations between Health Information Seeking Behavior and Adult Education Status in the U.S.: An Analysis of the 2012 PIAAC Data

Iris Feinberg et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

This paper presents data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies with a focus on the interrelationships among health information seeking behavior (HISB), and health status or use of preventive health measures for U.S. adults both with and without a high school diploma. Key results of ordinal and binary logistic regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for demographic factors, (1) adults with a high school diploma use more text-based health information sources while adults without a high school diploma use more oral sources, (2) using the Internet as a source of health information is more strongly related to reporting excellent/very good health status than having a high school diploma, (3) those without a high school diploma who use the Internet report the largest increase in health status over any other health information source, and (4) for those with learning disability or vision problem, a high facility in reading English is an important predictor of whether the Internet is used as a health information source. The Internet appears to play a key role in both enhancing health status and enabling use of preventive measures for those with and without a high school diploma; although, individuals without a high school diploma who use the Internet for health information derive substantial benefit in health status.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Reduced likelihood of using preventive measures for those who seek information from health professionals some, a little, or not at all, 2012 PIAAC data (N = 4885).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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