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Exploring the health information-seeking practices of breast cancer patients in a middle-income country with a diverse ethnic population: a cross-sectional investigation

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Abstract

Seeking health information is an important step for cancer patients to understand their condition and facilitate treatment. It also helps them deal with the unknown and aid in recovery. Therefore, it is vital to understand the factors that drive health information-seeking behavior. This study aims to achieve that objective in a localized context by surveying 421 breast cancer patients in an urban teaching hospital. The patients were presented with a 5-point questionnaire that explored their demography, health status, information-seeking behavior, and literacy level. The prevalence of health information-seeking initiatives reported was 60%. Patients with higher education (OR 3.31; 95% CI (1.39–7.87), p = 0.01), having their own business or were self-employed (OR 4.68; 95% CI (1.03–21.24), p = 0.046), and in a Medium 40 (M40) income level (OR 2.31; 95% CI (1.09–4.88), p = 0.03) and Top 20 (T20) level were more likely to seek health information. The mean e-Health Literacy Score (eHEALS) was 28.01 ± 5.0, with healthcare professionals having the highest level of trust (mean 4.22 ± 0.79) and most useful resource score (mean 4.21 ± 0.78). Even though Google was the most popular online search tool used by respondents, most of them seldom (23.77%) or had never (34.34%) discussed the online information they found with healthcare professionals. In conclusion, it is still best for patients to appraise the sought-after information with experts to avoid misinformation and treatment delay.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author at reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the breast cancer research team (Breast Surgery Unit), Department of Surgery, for the support and assistance.

Funding

The study was funded by Universiti Malaya Faculty of Medicine's Postgraduate Faculty Fund (MGrEP)-UM.000092/KWD.BH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Kah-Chun Yip, Shu- Ting Ngu, Reggina Syin-Tze Chong & Mee-Hoong See

  2. Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Lee-Lee Lai

  3. Department of Social Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Abqariyah Yahya

  4. Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Mee-Hoong See

  5. Breast Surgery Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Mee-Hoong See

Authors
  1. Kah-Chun Yip
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  2. Lee-Lee Lai
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  3. Shu- Ting Ngu
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  4. Reggina Syin-Tze Chong
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  5. Abqariyah Yahya
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  6. Mee-Hoong See
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lee-Lee Lai or Mee-Hoong See.

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Ethics approval

This study was not funded by any organization or entity. Ethics approval was granted by the Medical Research Ethics Committee (MREC) of the University of Malaya Medical Center (MREC ID: 2021106-10654).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yip, KC., Lai, LL., Ngu, S.T. et al. Exploring the health information-seeking practices of breast cancer patients in a middle-income country with a diverse ethnic population: a cross-sectional investigation. Support Care Cancer 31, 593 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08033-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08033-6

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