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Information behavior and HIV testing intentions among young men at risk for HIV / AIDS
Author(s) -
Meadowbrooke Chrysta C.,
Veinot Tiffany C.,
Loveluck Jimena,
Hickok Andrew,
Bauermeister José A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.23001
Subject(s) - theory of planned behavior , variance (accounting) , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , psychology , test (biology) , social psychology , health behavior , information behavior , behavior change , explained variation , health belief model , information seeking behavior , information seeking , applied psychology , health education , computer science , medicine , public health , control (management) , environmental health , immunology , information retrieval , machine learning , biology , artificial intelligence , business , accounting , human–computer interaction , nursing , paleontology
Health research shows that knowing about health risks may not translate into behavior change. However, such research typically operationalizes health information acquisition with knowledge tests. Information scientists who investigate socially embedded information behaviors could help improve understanding of potential associations between information behavior—as opposed to knowledge—and health behavior formation, thus providing new opportunities to investigate the effects of health information. We examine the associations between information behavior and HIV testing intentions among young men who have sex with men ( YMSM ), a group with high rates of unrecognized HIV infection. We used the theory of planned behavior ( TPB ) to predict intentions to seek HIV testing in an online sample of 163 YMSM . Multiple regression and recursive path analysis were used to test two models: (a) the basic TPB model and (b) an adapted model that added the direct effects of three information behaviors (information exposure, use of information to make HIV ‐testing decisions, prior experience obtaining an HIV test) plus self‐rated HIV knowledge. As hypothesized, our adapted model improved predictions, explaining more than twice as much variance as the original TPB model. The results suggest that information behaviors may be more important predictors of health behavior intentions than previously acknowledged.