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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1500627
This article is part of the Research Topic Digital Information for Patient Education, Volume II View all articles

Exploring the impact of discharged patients' characteristics on online health information-seeking behaviors: Insights from patients' dilemmas

Provisionally accepted
Fei Liu Fei Liu 1Xiangyin Kong Xiangyin Kong 1Tian Xia Tian Xia 2Huijing Guo Huijing Guo 3*
  • 1 Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China
  • 2 Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
  • 3 China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Aligned with the dual-factor model, this study aims to investigate why discharged patients seek online health information, considering the complexity of patients' dilemmas. Additionally, we account for specific cultural context factor in China and seek to examine the role of living with children in mitigating the dilemmas faced by discharged patients in their pursuit of additional online information.We empirically tested the research model using data collected from 292 discharged patients. The data was examined through structural equation modeling, employing Smart PLS.The findings suggest that perceived stress facilitates discharged patients' engagement in seeking online health information, whereas resistance to change and learned helplessness impede such behaviors. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that cohabiting with children moderates the effects of resistance to change on online health information-seeking behavior.Discussion: In conclusion, this paper extends the literature by examining the role of discharged patients' characteristics on online health information-seeking behaviors. Following the practices in China, this study involves living arrangements (with children) as an essential factor in the research model. This paper offer suggestions to online providers to make health-related information more suitable for discharged patients.

    Keywords: dilemmas, Discharged patients, dual-factor model, Living with children, Online health information-seeking behaviors

    Received: 23 Sep 2024; Accepted: 23 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Kong, Xia and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Huijing Guo, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.