Online health information seeking by people with physical disabilities due to neurological conditions

ObjectiveThis study investigates how neurologically disabled people's intention to continue seeking and actual use of online health information are related to various factors.DesignA cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect data from people who have neurological disabilities.MeasurementsAn online questionnaire was used to measure demographic, physical, cognitive, and behavioral factors based on subjects’ self-reported data.ResultsRegression analyses on 330 data show that a person's intention to continue online health information seeking (OHIS) increases as perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (PEOU) and disability level increase. The OHIS intention is also predicted by a negative interaction between PU and disability, a positive interaction between PEOU and disability, and a negative interaction between PU and PEOU. It is also find that a person's use of online health information is positively related to PU and negatively related to perceived risk and the interaction between PU and risk.LimitationsThe sample was not randomly selected and the cross-sectional survey cannot suggest causal relationships between variables.ConclusionNeurologically disabled people's online health information seeking and use can be predicted by their cognitive perceptions. A heightened disability level increases an individual's online health information seeking, but is not related to the use of such information. Moreover, seeking more online health information does not make an individual use more such information, suggesting that these two behaviors should be carefully differentiated.

► We examine online health information seeking (OHIS) of physically disabled people.
► OHIS is related to perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use and one's disability level.
► As disability worsens, one demands less usefulness and more easiness for OHIS.
► The use of online health information is predicted by PU and risk, not disability.
► More OHIS seeking does not mean more use of the information.