Self-Care and Health-Information-Seeking Behaviours of Diabetic Patients in Singapore.

Patients in Singapore with chronic conditions such as diabetes are encouraged to participate in patient-professional partnership activities because of rising health care costs and a shortage of infrastructure and human resources. This study explores the self-care and health information seeking behaviors of diabetic patients in Singapore, as well as factors related to health and information carriers that might influence those behaviors. A pilot-tested online survey was developed based on the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS) and notified to the members of the Diabetic Society of Singapore (DSS) through their newsletter in January 2016. In total, 60 usable responses from the DSS members were collected. The survey revealed that more than 30% of the patients did not strictly follow doctors' instructions to regularly exercise, self-monitor blood sugar, and pay attention to type of food prepared at home. However, it was found that the majority of them had consciously limited their sugar intake. It was also revealed that respondents' most frequently used sources of health information were authoritative sources such as doctors/nurses and pamphlets/leaflets from hospitals/clinics. Understandably, respondents experiencing less distress caused by diabetes tended to report better health status, less worries, and stronger beliefs in the efficacy of their methods for diabetes control.

Assessing the influence of health literacy on health information behaviors: A multi-domain skills-based approach.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between five domain-specific skills of health literacy: Find Health Information (FHI), Appraise Health Information (AHI), Understand Health Information to act (UHI), Actively Manage One's Health (AMH), and E-health literacy (e-Heals), and health information seeking behaviors and three categories of health outcomes. METHODS: A survey was implemented and data was collected from 1062 college going adults and analyzed using bivariate tests and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Among the five domain-specific Health Literacy skills, AHI and e-Heals were significantly associated with the use of traditional sources and the Internet for healthcare information respectively. Similarly and AMH and e-Heals were significantly associated with the use of traditional sources and the Internet for health lifestyle information respectively. Lastly AHI, AMH and e-Heals were significantly associated with the three categories of outcomes, and AFH was significantly associated with cognitive and instrumental outcomes, but not doctor-patient communication outcomes. CONCLUSION: Consumers' ability to use different health sources for both healthcare and health lifestyle information, and the three categories of health outcomes are associated with different domain-specific health literacy skills. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Health literacy initiatives may be improved by focusing on clients to develop domain-specific skills that increase the likelihood of using health information sources and accrue benefits.