Identifying Key Influencing Factors of Elderly Health Information Search Based on Meta-ethnography

Authors

• Zhumei SUN, School of Economics and Management, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100
• Zhibing WANG, Library, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215600

Keywords

meta-ethnography; DEMATEL; information behavior; elderly health

Abstract

[Purpose/significance] Health information search is an important way for elderly people to actively cope with aging. Identifying the key factors affecting of their health information searching and exploring the correlation among these factors are of positive significance for promoting the elderly proactive health ability.

[Method/process] This paper firstly integrated the original research through a meta-ethnographic approach to form a set of factors influencing the elderly health information search. The DEMATEL method was then used to analyze the interrelationships among the influencing factors and identify the key influencing factors.

[Result/conclusion] The study finds that, the influencing factors of elderly health information search mainly come from five dimensions: individual, demand, information, cost, and support. The health awareness, health status, past experience, psychological characteristics, self-efficacy, and cultural level of the individual dimension, the policy direction and medical environment of the support dimension, and the information efficiency of the information dimension are key factors affecting the elderly health information search.

First Page

35

Last Page

45

Submission Date

February 2025

Revision Date

April 2025

Acceptance Date

May 2025

Publication Date

October 2025

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

ꎺ 10.19809/j.cnki.kjqbyj.2025.04.004

Recommended Citation

SUN, Zhumei and WANG, Zhibing (2025) "Identifying Key Influencing Factors of Elderly Health Information Search Based on Meta-ethnography," Journal of Scientific Information Research: Vol. 7: Iss. 4, Article 4.
DOI: ꎺ 10.19809/j.cnki.kjqbyj.2025.04.004
Available at: https://eng.kjqbyj.com/journal/vol7/iss4/4

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