Predicting Surrogates' Health Information Seeking Behavior via Information Source and Information Evaluation

Abstract This study investigates surrogates' health information sharing behavior through information sources and information evaluation. A lab‐based experiment was conducted. Twenty‐five participants read five scenarios, each with three preselected webpages from a government, a commercial, and an online forum source. Participants had to decide whether to share the information with an imaginary friend of theirs and provide rationales (an indication of information evaluation). Content analysis and mixed effects logistic regression models were performed. Government websites were recommended for sharing the most, followed by commercial and online forum sources. Criteria predicting participants' intention to share information were different for each information source. The content's usefulness and trustworthiness were two criteria predicting participants' intention to share commercial websites. Source's trustworthiness and individual relevant criterion were two significant predictors for government sources. Source's trustworthiness had negative effects on sharing information from online forums. 13.3% of the information evaluation involved using both positive and negative criteria.