Health Information Seeking and Behavior in the Korean Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
1. Background
- Where (information source), what (search term), and how (device and frequency) did consumers obtain health-related information during the COVID-19 period?
- How did the search for health information found in this way affect actual health behavior?
- By verifying these research questions, we intend to identify consumers’ health information search behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic and use it as basic data for predicting their post-pandemic behavior.
2. Methods
2.1. Research Design
2.2. Data Collection
2.3. Measures
2.4. Information Sources
2.5. Search Terms
2.6. Device and Frequency
2.7. Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model
2.8. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. General Characteristics
3.2. Health Information-Seeking Behaviors
3.2.1. Information Source
3.2.2. Search Terms
3.2.3. Device and Frequency
3.3. Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model
3.4. Structural Equation Modeling Analysis
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
IMB | Information–Motivation–Behavior skills |
K-HINTS | Korean version of the Health Information National Trend Survey |
HINTS | Health Information National Trend Survey |
ICT | Information and Communications Technologies |
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Characteristics | Participants |
---|---|
Age (years), mean (SD) | 45.0 (13.6) |
Age (years), n (%) | |
19–39 | 368 (36.3) |
40–59 | 452 (44.6) |
>60 | 194 (19.1) |
Gender, n (%) | |
Male | 515 (50.8) |
Female | 499 (49.2) |
Education, n (%) | |
Elementary and middle school graduate | 10 (1.0) |
High school graduate | 166 (16.4) |
University/college student | 51 (5.0) |
University/College graduate | 652 (64.3) |
Graduate school student | 19 (1.9) |
Grad school graduate and above | 116 (11.4) |
Marital status, n (%) | |
Single | 309 (30.5) |
Married | 649 (64.0) |
Divorced | 35 (3.5) |
Widowed | 17 (1.7) |
Separated and cohabiting | 4 (0.4) |
Family income, n (%) | |
<KRW 1 million | 43 (4.2) |
KRW 1 million~KRW 2 million | 77 (7.6) |
KRW 2 million~KRW 5 million | 468 (46.2) |
KRW 5 million~KRW 10 million | 350 (34.5) |
<KRW 10 million | 76 (7.5) |
Variable | Information | Motivation | Behavioral Skills | Behavior Changes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Information | ||||
r | 1 | 0.141 | 0.170 | 0.236 |
p value | - | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
Motivation | ||||
r | 0.141 | 1 | 0.143 | 0.131 |
p value | <0.001 | - | <0.001 | <0.001 |
Behavioral Skills | ||||
r | 0.170 | 0.143 | 1 | 0.138 |
p value | <0.001 | <0.001 | - | <0.001 |
Behavior Changes | ||||
r | 0.236 | 0.131 | 0.138 | 1 |
p value | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | - |
Mean | 2.79 | 2.91 | 12.7130 | 1.6036 |
Std. Deviation | 0.707 | 0.571 | 1.87557 | 1.11378 |
Skewness | −0.104 | −0.326 | 0.098 | −0.122 |
Kurtosis | −0.272 | 0.905 | 0.609 | −1.339 |
Minimum | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Maximum | 4 | 4 | 16 | 3 |
Variable | Mean | S.E. | C.R | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Information | 2.794 | 0.022 | 125.890 a | ||
Motivation | 2.906 | 0.018 | 162.123 a | ||
B | β | S.E. | C.R | ||
Behavioral Skills | item 1 | 1.000 | 0.815 | - | - |
item 2 | 0.986 | 0.852 | 0.033 | 29.455 a | |
item 3 | 0.942 | 0.744 | 0.037 | 25.170 a | |
item 4 | 0.920 | 0.801 | 0.033 | 27.563 a | |
Behavior Changes | item 1 | 1.000 | 0.485 | - | - |
item 2 | 1.593 | 0.769 | 0.161 | 9.916 a | |
item 3 | 1.129 | 0.558 | 0.106 | 10.631 a | |
Correlation | B | β | S.E. | C.R | |
Information ↔ Motivation | 0.057 | 0.141 | 0.013 | 4.428 a | |
Information ↔ Behavioral Skills | 0.057 | 0.178 | 0.011 | 5.217 a | |
Information ↔ Behavior Changes | 0.045 | 0.267 | 0.007 | 6.071 a | |
Motivation ↔ Behavioral Skills | 0.040 | 0.154 | 0.009 | 4.536 a | |
Motivation ↔ Behavior Changes | 0.023 | 0.167 | 0.006 | 4.146 a | |
Behavioral Skills ↔ Behavior Changes | 0.019 | 0.176 | 0.005 | 4.094 a | |
Model fit index | χ2 = 41.814, df = 23, p = 0.010, TLI = 0.989, CFI = 0.993, RMSEA = 0.028 |
Path | B | β | S.E. | C.R. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Information → Behavioral Skills | 0.103 | 0.159 | 0.021 | 4.802 b | |
Information → Behavioral Changes | 0.078 | 0.230 | 0.014 | 5.537 b | |
Motivation → Behavioral Skills | 0.105 | 0.131 | 0.027 | 3.968 b | |
Motivation → Behavioral Changes | 0.049 | 0.117 | 0.016 | 3.051 a | |
Behavioral Skills → Behavioral Changes | 0.062 | 0.117 | 0.022 | 2.860 a | |
Path | Total effect | Direct effect | Mediated effect | Indirect confidence interval | |
Information → Behavioral Skills → Behavioral Changes | 0.248 | 0.230 | 0.019 | 0.009–0.036 a | |
Motivation → Behavioral Skills → Behavioral Changes | 0.133 | 0.117 | 0.015 | 0.006–0.032 a | |
Model fit index | χ2 = 41.814, df = 23, | p = 0.010, TLI = 0.989, CFI = 0.993, RMSEA = 0.028 |
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Choi, H.; Jin, M.; Park, B. Health Information Seeking and Behavior in the Korean Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Healthcare 2025, 13, 2539. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13192539
Choi H, Jin M, Park B. Health Information Seeking and Behavior in the Korean Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Healthcare. 2025; 13(19):2539. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13192539
Chicago/Turabian StyleChoi, Hanna, Meiling Jin, and Byungsun Park. 2025. "Health Information Seeking and Behavior in the Korean Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic" Healthcare 13, no. 19: 2539. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13192539
APA StyleChoi, H., Jin, M., & Park, B. (2025). Health Information Seeking and Behavior in the Korean Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Healthcare, 13(19), 2539. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13192539