Materiality in information environments: Objects, spaces, and bodies in three outpatient hemodialysis facilities

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152032/1/asi24277.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152032/2/asi24277_am.pd

Patient information needs: pre- and post-consultation

This paper presents findings from a study of information seeking behaviour by National Health Service patients which explored motivational triggers for infor- mation needs. Previous research has highlighted the importance of contextual elements in users' changing information needs. This paper highlights how those needs may centre on specific events: in particular, a patient's consultation with their doctor. Patients initiate information seeking to assess whether they need clinical intervention, in preparation for the patient–doctor consultation and to verify the diagnosis or treatment stemming from that consultation. The study has revealed that having confidence in health practitioners is one key motiva- tion for information seeking. Another is a desire to use health service resources judiciously, efficiently and effectively

The Evolving Role of Consumers

The culmination of the changes in healthcare, motivated in many ways by the rapid evolution of information and communication technologies in parallel with the shift toward increased patient decision-making and empowerment, has critical implications for clinical research, from recruitment and participation to, ultimately, successful outcomes. This chapter explores the developments impacting health consumers from various perspectives, with some focus on foundational issues in health communication and information behaviors as related to health consumerism. An overarching concern is the information environment within which health consumers are immersed, which is increasingly social, and underlying communication issues and emerging technologies contributing to the changing nature of patients’ information world. Not surprisingly, we will see that core findings from communication and information behavior research have relevance for our current understanding and future models of the evolving role of the health consumer