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Infographics facilitate rapid information dissemination with enriched eye-catching content on social media, but it is unclear what factors affect the adoption of information presented in this way.
We tested whether the Information Acceptance Model applies to infographics on healthy lifestyle and fitness topics.
Two hundred and four university students were invited to participate in an online survey on their acceptance after reading some healthy lifestyle and fitness topics infographics shared on social media. The data collected were analysed using Partial Least Square path modelling.
The results confirmed information usefulness as a predictor of information adoption; attitude towards information and information adoption were the predictors of behavioural intention. Information credibility and attitude towards information, but not information quality and needs, were significantly related to information usefulness. Social media usage and education level were factors affecting infographics impressions.
Results support most hypotheses. It confirms information usefulness as a predictor of infographics adoption. Attitudes towards information and information adoption are predictors of behavioural intentions of following healthy lifestyle and fitness suggestions through social media infographics.
Social media facilitates interpersonal communication, information exchange and knowledge sharing, and infographics may draw people into healthy lifestyle and fitness information items relevant to them.
The Library and Knowledge Services at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has been at its current location since 1975 and, in September 2020, it was deemed necessary to examine the library environment and assess the signage.
The main objective was to conduct a methodical assessment of all the current library signage in order to improve the library environment, wayfinding, and clarity.
A methodical signage audit was conducted by library staff, photographing signs, assigning them to categories, and creating a signage map.
In total, 58 different signs were counted in the library. Of these, 22 signs were deemed satisfactory, 4 should be moved to a more appropriate location, 15 should be updated with a branded design and better messaging, and 17 were recommended for removal.
The results demonstrated that there were three main areas where signage could be improved: reducing the quantity of signs, updating the language and design, and the use of ad hoc signage.
By assessing the signs and assigning categories and types, areas were identified as problem points that were impacting the library user's experience and small changes were implemented to improve the library environment.
Stakeholders working on the COVID-19 pandemic response needed access to evidence, requiring a systematic approach to identify and disseminate relevant research.
Outline the stages of development of a COVID-19 Literature Digest; demonstrate the impact the Digest had on decision-making and knowledge gain; identify the lessons learned.
A standardised process was developed to identify and select papers. The main sources for content were PubMed, bioRxiv and medRxiv. A shared EndNote library was used to deduplicate and organise papers. Three user surveys obtained feedback from subscribers to determine if the Digest remained valuable, and explore the benefits to individuals.
40–60 papers were summarised each week. 211 Digests were produced from March 2020 to March 2022, with around 10,000 papers included altogether. Survey results suggest benefits of the Digest were gaining new knowledge, saving time and contributing to evidence-based decision making.
Digest procedures constantly evolved and were adapted in response to survey feedback. Lessons identified: learn from failure, communication is key, measure your impact, work collaboratively, reflect and be flexible.
The Digest was successfully produced within the limits of available resource. The learning from this Digest will inform evidence monitoring, selection and dissemination for future health crises.
Although knowledge sharing online has been recognised as an important strategy for health professionals to apply research findings to their practice, limited research exists on how to develop and implement these platforms to help facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing.
This study evaluated an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice developed in the North East of England and Yorkshire during COVID-19 to support UK health and care professionals to reduce the impact of the wider consequences of COVID-19.
Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (n = 8) and users of C-WorKS (n = 13), followed by an online survey (n = 19) among a wider group of users to analyse knowledge use.
Interview and survey findings highlighted several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to support future development of online knowledge sharing platforms.
Online knowledge sharing supports six ‘pillars’ of successful research and innovation partnerships. This requires distributed forms of leadership and linking of different knowledge sharing strategies, and careful combination of platforms with communities of practice.
Online knowledge sharing provides pragmatic and timely strategies for health professionals in the UK to apply research evidence to their practice. Our study provides generalisable, practical insights in how to develop and implement a knowledge sharing platform.
Medication discontinuation studies explore the outcomes of stopping a medication compared to continuing it. Comprehensively identifying medication discontinuation articles in bibliographic databases remains challenging due to variability in terminology.
To develop and validate search filters to retrieve medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase.
We identified medication discontinuation articles in a convenience sample of systematic reviews. We used primary articles to create two reference sets for Medline and Embase, respectively. The reference sets were equally divided by randomization in development sets and validation sets. Terms relevant for discontinuation were identified by term frequency analysis in development sets and combined to develop two search filters that maximized relative recalls. The filters were validated against validation sets. Relative recalls were calculated with their 95% confidences intervals (95% CI).
We included 316 articles for Medline and 407 articles for Embase, from 15 systematic reviews. The Medline optimized search filter combined 7 terms. The Embase optimized search filter combined 8 terms. The relative recalls were respectively 92% (95% CI: 87–96) and 91% (95% CI: 86–94).
We developed two search filters for retrieving medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase. Further research is needed to estimate precision and specificity of the filters.
Continual evidence surveillance is an integral feature of living guidelines. The Australian Stroke Guidelines include recommendations on 100 clinical topics and have been ‘living’ since 2018.
To describe the approach for establishing and evaluating an evidence surveillance system for the living Australian Stroke Guidelines.
We developed a pragmatic surveillance system based on an analysis of the searches for the 2017 Stroke Guidelines and evaluated its reliability by assessing the potential impact on guideline recommendations. Search retrieval and screening workload are monitored monthly, together with the frequency of changes to the guideline recommendations.
Evidence surveillance was guided by practical considerations of efficiency and sustainability. A single PubMed search covering all guideline topics, limited to systematic reviews and randomised trials, is run monthly. The search retrieves about 400 records a month of which a sixth are triaged to the guideline panels for further consideration. Evaluations with Epistemonikos and the Cochrane Stroke Trials Register demonstrated the robustness of adopting this more restrictive approach. Collaborating with the guideline team in designing, implementing and evaluating the surveillance is essential for optimising the approach.
Monthly evidence surveillance for a large living guideline is feasible and sustainable when applying a pragmatic approach.
Health professionals require up-to-date information in their pursuit of evidence-based practice in health care. There is a plethora of literature on information behaviour of different user groups across disciplines in Malawi with little evidence on health professionals.
The study investigated the information behaviour of health professionals at one of the three biggest hospitals in Malawi.
A descriptive survey design was used. Ninety-four health professionals participated in the study. SPSS was used for descriptive analysis to generate frequencies and percentages.
Personal and professional development constituted the major information need among all the health professionals. Health professionals used books and colleagues as sources of information, but many preferred to use websites, rather than print resources. The challenges that affected their information behaviour included, inadequate information resources, limited access to the internet and e-databases, and lack of information literacy skills.
The study revealed various information needs of health professionals and their preferred information sources. Health professionals need adequate library and information services with both print and digital resources and support from information professionals. Nevertheless, use of the hospital library was very low among health professionals.
Health professionals at MCH continue to face various challenges that hinder access and efficient use of information resources.
Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS) is the main reference database in the region; however, the way in which this resource is used in Cochrane systematic reviews has not been studied.
To assess the search methods of Cochrane reviews that used LILACS as a source of information and explore the Cochrane community's perceptions about this resource.
We identified all Cochrane reviews of interventions published during 2019, which included LILACS as a source of information, and analysed their search methods and also ran a survey through the Cochrane Community.
We found 133 Cochrane reviews that reported the full search strategies, identifying heterogeneity in search details. The respondents to our survey highlighted many areas for improvement in the use of LILACS, including the usability of the search platform for this purpose.
The use and reporting of LILACS in Cochrane reviews demonstrate inconsistencies, as evidenced by the analysis of search reports from systematic reviews and surveys conducted among members of the Cochrane community.
With better guidance on how LILACS database is structured, information specialists working on Cochrane reviews should be able to make more effective use of this unique resource.
Considering social distancing requirements and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread health mis/disinformation on social media, filling the pandemic-related information gap is critical.
This study explored COVID-19-related question topics, topic correlation, evolving trends, and community interactions by leveraging data from a health question-answering (Q&A) community (public and health professionals) over a 2-year period.
A total of 828 questions were collected and manually reviewed from a health Q&A and classified into 2492 codes. Question topic correlations, trends, and community interactions were generated using different statistical techniques.
Thirty-seven topics were identified, and strong topic correlations were observed between the cognitive layer and other layers. These topics changed as the pandemic developed. Community interaction analyses revealed topics that were popular but received comparatively fewer responses.
The findings could illuminate the dynamic changes in people's interests and concerns related to COVID-19 and their experiences of exchanging information in social Q&A communities.
This study examined the practical significance of understanding topics of interest during a pandemic. The findings can inform the design of social health Q&A platforms that could reduce the risks of misinformation and disinformation.
Patients can often access the internet and social media for health information but it is not clear how much they trust and use the information retrieved.
To investigate the social media and internet use rates and preferences of orthopaedic patients, to reveal to what extent they self-treat, and to probe the affecting factors.
Two thousand fifty-eight patients admitted to an orthopaedic polyclinic were asked to fill out a survey (voluntarily) consisting of 15 items, to collect demographic data, preference for platforms and sources used, trusted sources, and the extent to which information obtained was used for self-care.
The most preferred and most trusted sources of information were Google and other search engines, and physicians' personal websites (p < 0.001).
Variables such as age, gender, educational level and occupation affect the research preferences. Reliance on social media decreases with increasing educational levels (p < 0.001).
Health information and knowledge services should work with health professionals to improve aspects of health literacy among orthopaedic patients.
Gaze movement analysis is a human–computer interaction analysis method to assess time and viewing patterns of screen pages.
This study examines Facebook users' health information viewing patterns and identifies social media interface factors that affect users' health information behaviour on Facebook. The findings of this study should help researchers and health information providers understand how Facebook is used, and how users might be appraising information viewed.
This study investigated gaze movement data collected from 48 participants while participants were viewing Facebook pages that presented health-related posts. Each session was designed to represent four health information sources and four health topics. Each session included an exit interview for a better interpretation of data.
Participants spent the most time viewing the content of the posts, particularly post images. Findings revealed that users' viewing patterns differed when different health topics were presented, but not according to the type of information provider. However, the study showed that users check the Facebook page's banner to verify the health information provider's identity.
This study indicates what health information consumers look for on Facebook when finding, appraising, and reacting to, or sharing health-related content.
Timely and relevant information helps parents to cope when a child is diagnosed with cancer. However, obtaining and understanding information is not a straightforward process for parents.
This article aims to explain paediatric cancer parents' information behaviour related to the care of their child.
Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen Malaysian paediatric cancer parents and eight healthcare professionals who worked with paediatric cancer patients. Reflexivity and inductive approaches were used to interpret the data to identify meaningful themes and subthemes.
Three themes about how paediatric cancer parents interact with information emerged: Acquiring information, internalising information, and using information. Information may be actively sought or passively acquired. Cognitive and affective aspects influence how information is internalised into meaningful knowledge. Knowledge then leads to further action including further information gathering.
Paediatric cancer parents need health literacy support to meet their information needs. They require guidance in identifying and appraising suitable information resources. Development of suitable supporting materials is needed to facilitate parents' ability to comprehend information related to their child's cancer. Understanding parents' information behaviour could assist healthcare professionals in providing information support in the context of paediatric cancer.
University students are a large group of the population who should be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the pandemic. This research aimed to determine the effect of COVID-19 vaccine literacy on the attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine among university students.
This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 2384 university students via online survey in September and October 2021. ‘Demographic Information Form’, ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale’, and ‘Attitudes towards the COVID-19 Vaccine Scale’ were used to collect the data. Data were evaluated via descriptive statistics, independent group t-test, ANOVA, Tukey HSD, and Pearson Correlation analysis.
The mean score on the COVID-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale was 27.26 ± 6.49 (moderate). Demographic differences that significantly affected students' vaccine literacy scales included parents' education levels (lower levels of parental education associated with higher communicative/critical vaccine literacy). Health sciences students had more positive attitudes to the COVID vaccine than students of other disciplines. The higher the level of mother's education, the more positive the student's attitude towards the vaccine, and similarly the higher the student's socio-economic background the higher the positive attitude towards the vaccine. Examination of the relationship between the vaccine literacy scale and the attitudes towards the vaccine showed low levels of correlation.
Students who had parents of lower education levels may have more responsibilities for explaining vaccination to their parents, thus improving their communicative/critical vaccine literacy.
A vaccine literacy scale with separate functional literacy score and critical/communicative score helps to explain some of socio-demographic differences in students' scores, and similarly for attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine (positive and negative attitude sub-scales).
Evidence indicates that perceived skills for searching the Internet for health information may differ from actual skills in searching, finding, and appraising health information.
This study investigated the perceived and performed eHealth literacy of medical sciences students, as well as the relationships between those literacies.
This study enrolled 228 medical sciences students (convenience sample) in Iran. The study tools include the eHEALS literacy scale for the perceived eHealth literacy and a questionnaire designed by the authors to assess performed eHealth literacy (skills around access, understanding, appraising, applying, and generating information). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation coefficient.
In general, over 70% of students perceived their skills of access and appraisal as good/very good, correlating with their estimated performance. Students perceived they were less confident in some appraisal skills (e.g., using information from the Internet to make health decisions) than others. Performed skills in information generation were mostly poor or very good; performed application skills generally good/very good.
The eHEALS score scales with actual skills (access and appraisal). Support is necessary for students in particular types of appraisal skills.
Increasingly, libraries buy medical monographs as ebooks, but that may not be what medical students and residents want. Some studies have shown that they prefer print books for some types of reading. On the other hand, for participants in distributed medical programs, ebooks are more accessible.
To determine whether medical students and residents at an institution with a distributed medical education program prefer medical ebooks or print books.
In February 2019, 844 medical students and residents were invited to complete an online questionnaire on their format preferences.
Two hundred thirty-two students and residents responded. Most preferred electronic format for reading a few pages, but print for entire books. Respondents preferred ebooks because they were immediately available, searchable and could be used on the go, and print books because they strained users' eyes less, facilitated absorption of the text and could be held in users’ hands. The location of respondents and year of study had little effect on responses.
Libraries should consider buying quick reference and large, heavy textbooks as ebooks and pocket-sized or shorter, single-topic titles, in print format.
Libraries have a responsibility to make both print and ebooks available to their users.
Despite numerous quantitative findings on online health information seeking, little is known about the process of online health information seeking itself.
The study aimed to learn about how adults search for health information online, whether Macias et al.'s Online Health Searcher Typology applies to a broader, non-university sample, and to better identify and understand online health searchers by employing the Patient Health Engagement (PHE) model.
This study examined the role of engagement in online health information search processes using think-aloud qualitative interviews with 11 participants in their 30s to 70s. The research applied both thematic analysis and a quantitative coding scheme based on the PHE model to analyse the qualitative data that consists of 500 pages of think-aloud verbatim transcripts.
This study found that four (flounderer, skimmer, digester and devourer) out of five types emerged as distinct search styles. Insights into engagement helped distinguish online health searcher types in this sample.
The dynamics of the engagement dimension indicate that the online health information search process is multi-dimensional. It is comprised of different levels of cognitive, emotional, and conative responses, further extending the PHE model. Health science librarians and health professionals have a unique opportunity to help individuals better navigate online health search.
As the prevalence of autism appears to increase, more research to guide effective diagnosis and intervention practices is needed. Findings disseminated through peer-reviewed publications are critical, but the number of retractions continues to rise. An understanding of retracted publications is imperative to ensure the body of evidence is corrected and current.
The objectives of this analysis were to summarize key characteristics of retracted publications in autism research, examine the length of time between publication and retraction, and assess the extent journals are adhering to publishing ethical guidelines for reporting retracted articles.
We searched five databases through 2021 (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Retraction Watch).
A total of 25 retracted articles were included in the analysis. Ethical misconduct accounted for the majority of retractions rather than scientific error. The shortest time to retraction was 2 months and the longest length was 144 months.
The time lag between publication and retraction since 2018 has improved considerably. Nineteen of the articles had retraction notices (76%), whereas six articles did not have a notice (24%).
These findings summarize errors of previous retractions and illuminate opportunities for researchers, journal publishers and librarians to learn from retracted publications.
Information is critical for patients having to decide about the best treatment option, and an in-depth understanding of their information behaviour can help health and information services to improve and facilitate their access to reliable information.
To investigate the health information-seeking behaviour and information sources and their roles in decision making among breast cancer patients in Romania in the context of the surgical treatment.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 patients who were treated surgically for breast cancer at the Bucharest Oncology Institute.
Most participants searched for information independently, before and after the operation, and their information needs evolved during the progression of their disease. The surgeon was regarded as the most trusted source of information. Most patients adopted a paternalistic or a shared approach for decision making.
Besides findings consistent with research from other countries, our study also revealed findings in contrast to previous research. None of the interviewed patients made any reference to the library as a source of information even if books were mentioned.
Health information specialists should develop a detailed guide and online information services to help physicians and other health professionals to provide relevant and reliable health care information to surgical inpatients from Romania.
Consumer health libraries connect communities to reliable and accurate health information while Little Free Libraries (LFL) provide communities globally with access to free books with a ‘take one leave one’ type policy.
To discuss how medical librarians used already established LFLs as outreach opportunities to provide consumer health books to rural locations in East Tennessee's Appalachia region in the United States.
Researchers reviewed the population's literacy levels, the Index of Medical Underservice scores, and the availability of established LFLs. Twenty-two established LFL locations were selected and one new LFL was built for an eye clinic. Eleven health books were purchased for each established LFL, and 33 books were purchased for the new LFL.
Researchers went back to each location 5 months after delivery. 90% of the books were taken from the already established LFLs. Ten books were taken from the new LFL.
Using already established LFLs is a great opportunity to provide relevant health information to rural communities. The new LFL allowed for a partnership between the library and a rural eye clinic.
By distributing health books to already established LFLs, researchers brought relevant health information books to rural and medically underserved communities.
As more people across Generations X, Y, and Z continue to use the Internet meet their information needs, this study assesses the characteristics influencing the online health information seeking behaviour (OHISB) of non-medical university students. Previous studies on the subject in Nigeria have largely assessed the concept of OHISB among university students without examining the determinants of such behaviour.
To determine the predictors of OHISB among non-medical undergraduate students of a Nigerian private university.
Adopting a cross-sectional research design, the study utilized a semi-structured questionnaire administered via Google forms. Some 361 non-medical undergraduate students were recruited purposively with a response rate of 84.2%. The questionnaire obtained data on students' socio-demographics, Internet usage, and OHISB.
Presence of a chronic condition, gender, and college showed significant associations with students' OHISB. ‘Mothers' occupation’ and ‘prior experience’ became significant predictors of students' OHISB.
The results align with studies that stressed that chronically ill persons would search for health information on the internet and that presence of chronic illness is among the predictors of OHISB.
These findings add to evidence from other countries that had identified health literacy and presence of chronic illness as significant predictors of OHISB among students.
Bibliometric methods may be used to examine research trends, and information visualisation techniques are useful in illustrating the diffusion of knowledge and how theories are applied.
The present study aimed to illustrate how Orem's Self-Care Deficiency Nursing Theory (SCDNT) has been cited and applied in nursing science and beyond.
A bibliometric analysis examined scientific publications that cited Orem's nursing theory. In addition, the diffusion of SCDNT was assessed using data visualisation methods and integration scores of SCDNT versions were calculated to define trends in its theoretical usage in other scientific domains.
The information visualisation demonstrated increased usage of SCDTN in different disciplines. Integration scores demonstrated that the scientific community still recognises and uses versions of SCDTN.
Studying citation patterns helps to identify which publications are still cited and relevant, as well as illustrating the dissemination of theory. Findings may be used in the collection weeding of SCDTN book versions.
Findings provided nursing scientists with a better conceptual understanding of SCDNT diffusion and development. For academic library managers, the findings identify which SCDNT should be retained for historical interest and curriculum needs.
Twitter is rich in data for text and data analytics research, with the ability to capture trends.
This study examines Canadian tweets on marijuana legalization and terminology used. Presented as a case study, Twitter analytics will demonstrate the varied applications of how this kind of research method may be used to inform library practice.
Twitter API was used to extract a subset of tweets using seven relevant hashtags. Using open-source programming tools, the sampled tweets were analysed between September to November 2018, identifying themes, frequently used terms, sentiment, and co-occurring hashtags.
More than 1,176,000 tweets were collected. The most popular hashtag co-occurrence, two hashtags appearing together, was #cannabis and #CdnPoli. There was a high variance in the sentiment analysis of all collected tweets but most scores had neutral sentiment.
The case study presents text-mining applications relevant to help make informed decisions in library practice through service analysis, quality analysis, and collection analysis.
Findings from sentiment analysis may determine usage patterns from users. There are several ways in which libraries may use text mining to make evidence-informed decisions such as examining all possible terminologies used by the public to help inform comprehensive evidence synthesis projects and build taxonomies for digital libraries and repositories.
Given the increasing volume of published research in bibliographic databases, efficient retrieval of evidence is crucial and represents an opportunity to integrate novel techniques such as text mining.
To develop and validate a geographic search filter for identifying research from the United States (US) in Ovid MEDLINE.
US and non-US citations were collected from bibliographies of evidence-based reviews. Citations were partitioned by US/non-US status and randomly divided to a training and testing set. Using text mining, common one- and two-word terms in title/abstract fields were identified, and frequencies compared between US/non-US citations.
Common US-related terms included (as ratio of frequency in US/non-US citations) US populations and geographic terms [e.g., ‘Americans’ (15.5), ‘Baltimore’ (20.0)]. Common non-US terms were non-US geographic terms [e.g., ‘Japan’ (0.04), ‘French’ (0.05)]. A search filter was developed with 98.3% sensitivity and 82.7% specificity.
This search filter will streamline the identification of evidence from the US. Periodic updates may be necessary to reflect changes in MEDLINE's controlled vocabulary.
Text mining was instrumental to the development of this search filter. A novel technique generated a gold standard set comprising >20,000 citations. This method may be adapted to develop subsequent geographic search filters.
Systematic reviews require detailed planning of complex processes which can present logistical challenges. Understanding these logistical challenges can help with planning and execution of tasks
To describe the perspectives of expert searchers on the main logistical challenges when carrying out supplementary searches for systematic reviews, in particular, forward citation searching and web searching.
Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 15 experts on searching for studies for systematic reviews (e.g. information specialists) working in health and social care research settings. Interviews were undertaken by video-call between September 2020 and June 2021. Data analysis used thematic network analysis.
We identified three logistical challenges of using forward citation searching and web searching which were organised under the global theme of ‘tension’: time, team and technology. Several subthemes were identified which supported the organising themes, including allocating time, justifying time and keeping to time; reviewer expectations and contact with review teams; and access to resources and reference management.
Forward citation searching and web searching are logistically challenging search methods for a systematic review. An understanding of these challenges should encourage expert searchers and review teams to maintain open channels of communication, which should also facilitate improved working relationships.
It is difficult to engage busy healthcare professionals in research. Yet during the COVID-19 pandemic, gaining their perspectives has never been more important.
To explore social media data for insights into the wellbeing of UK General Practitioners (GPs) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
We used a combination of search approaches to identify 381 practising UK NHS GPs on Twitter. Using a two stage social media analysis, we firstly searched for key themes from 91,034 retrieved tweets (before and during the pandemic). Following this we used qualitative content analysis to provide in-depth insights from 7145 tweets related to wellbeing.
Social media proved a useful tool to identify a cohort of UK GPs; following their tweets longitudinally to explore key themes and trends in issues related to GP wellbeing during the pandemic. These predominately related to support, resources and public perceptions and fluctuations were identified at key timepoints during the pandemic, all achieved without burdening busy GPs.
Social media data can be searched to identify a cohort of GPs to explore their wellbeing and changes over time.
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