Wired and Worried: Understanding Users’ Emotions while Web Searching for Health Information

To-date, most of the research concerning online health information search has focused on how users search the Web and how they evaluate health information. Despite the concerns raised on the impact of online health information on users’ emotions, there is little research done in this field. In this paper, a critical analysis of the previous studies on Web searching for health information is done and it is found that emotions in Web searching for health information is scantly addressed area. As an exploratory study, an interview is conducted on frequent health information seekers and “emotions during searching” emerged as one of the major themes. The gap in the literature and the results from the exploratory study shows that there is a need for further research to delve deeper into understanding users’ emotions during Web searching for health information.