Onging Projects

Consumer Longitudinal Health Information Needs and Search Behavior

Searching for health information is one of the most frequent internet activities. Most health concerns tend to last for a period of time. Yet, the study of consumer online health information search (OHIS) has been primarily based on session-based observation generated in labs or search engine logs. Thus far, we know little about how people search for health information over time. The proposed project addresses this gap by studying consumer OHIS in natural settings. The proposed project will generate much-lacked knowledge about consumer longitudinal OHIS behavior to inform personalized health information search experience design. The project is supported by a Google Faculty Research award.

Understanding Information Needs of Ovarian Cancer Patients and Family Members about Genetic Testing for Interactive Health Technology Design

The adoption rate of genetic testing (GT) is suboptimal, despite the fact that GT can inform cancer treatment and cancer prevention for at-risk family members. A major barrier is patients' limited knowledge of GT and concerns about its implications. To help address the barrier, this proposed study will use interviews and co-design activities to uncover information needs experienced by ovarian cancer patients and their family members in their GT journey. The results will enhance the conceptual understanding of dimensions of information needs and provide much-needed empirical evidence to inform the design of interactive technologies for cancer patients. The project is supported by the Humanities Institute and the Center for Health Communication.

Promoting Quality Evaluation of Health Information in Online Searches through Nudging

The majority of the U.S. adults search online for health information. Most of them do not consistently evaluate the quality of the information they find. Inaccurate, incomplete, or biased information negatively impacts consumers' health beliefs and therefore health outcomes. Existing interventions mainly train consumers to evaluate information quality using preexisting checklists or automatically re-rank search results based on criteria that are usually not disclosed. These approaches produced some positive impacts, but also suffer from serious limitations, including lack of ecological validity and lack of transparency. Guided by behavioral theories and empirical research, this project proposes to design and evaluate PageGraph, an interface that displays major quality indicators of health webpages, to nudge people to evaluate information during online searches. The study is supported by the VPR Research & Creative Grant.

Older Adults' Evaluation of the Quality of Online Health Information: Perceptions, Challenges, and Design Opportunities

Evaluating the quality of information is a major challenge for general consumers who seek health information online. The challenge is more pronounced for older adults. Studies consistently report that older adults lack confidence in their ability to evaluate information, making it the most widely mentioned and the top challenge in accessing online health information. the major goal of this proposed study is to investigate older adults' perceptions of online health information quality and how they go about assessing the quality of health information in the current complex internet environment.