HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN

OBJECTIVES: To study various types of health information seeking behavior (HISB) among college students in Oman and to study the factors affecting students’ HISB and sources of health information (HI). METHODS: Survey was conducted in six colleges in different governorates of Oman collected in 2014 and in 2016. English to Arabic translated questionnaires were used to collect data from undergraduate students. SPSS was used, descriptive statistics and chi-square tests at p 0.05 were done for data analysis. RESULTS: Personal sickness (89% in 2014 and 88% in 2016) and family sickness (94% in 2014 92% in 2016) were the common factors affecting/ initiating HISB. Health messages in print (65% in 2014 2016) electronic media (62% in 2014 66% in 2016) are main initiating factors for seeking HI. Internet (89%), family members (85.8% in 2014 88.9% in 2016), experts-non doctors (82.8% in 2014 81.8% in 2016) doctors/medics (75.7% in 2014 83.9% in 2016) were the common sources of HI. WhatsApp (51.6% in 2004 45.3% in 2016) and general websites (46.3% in 2014 48% in 2016) were the commonest media sources of HI. Gender and other demographic variable were not significantly associated (p 0.05) with HISB of students. CONCLUSION: Personal/family sickness media were the common factors affecting/initiating HISB. Majority of student are seeking HI from internet, family members, experts-non doctors doctors/medics. WhatsApp and internet were the commonest media sources of HI. HISB needs to be documented for theorizing messages, developing social and health initiatives.