Constructing the information ground of the campus disability center

- Qualitative analysis of 17 interviews demonstrates how the campus disability center operates as an information ground.
- Disability counselors look for health information in formal and informal ways and interact with a variety of actors.
- The findings provide a basis for exploring other professionals' use of health information in higher education contexts.

Higher education institutions are required to provide academic accommodations to students who need them. These services are typically available at campus disability centers, where disability counselors work with students to facilitate accommodations. Interviews were conducted to examine the health information behaviors of 17 disability counselors at two university disability centers by applying Fisher, Durrance, and Hinton's (2004) information grounds theory. Analysis of the interviews was performed to: 1) explore the information ground of the disability center, 2) better understand the ways in which health information is sought and used, and 3) consider the alternate ways in which health information is used by disability counselors. The perspectives of disability counselors' health information-seeking also point to ways in which information grounds theory can be applied to university staff who play a similar role in the lives of students at higher education institutions.