Health information behaviour of graduate students on the internet: Sources, trust and reliability of information

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the health information behaviour of graduate students on the internet. A quantitative method using a cross-sectional survey was used to solicit information from 256 graduate students studying courses related to health in the Arts, Social, and applied Sciences. The results showed that most of the respondents preferred the Internet because it is timely, fast and provides information from different sources simultaneously. The type(s) of health information mostly sought for were general information on healthy lifestyle, specific disease or treatment, side effects of medications, new development in the medical field among others. Majority (90.9 %) of the respondents trusted the health information on the Internet but most (56.6 %) did not verify the information obtained online with medical practitioners although they had some forms of concern. The findings offer health practitioners knowledge about university students’ health information seeking behaviour on the Internet in relation to other sources of health information.