Information seeking for coping with cancer: a systematic review

Abstract

Purpose

Information seeking can be used to make sense of a situation or solve a problem. Information seeking can be considered a coping strategy when facing illness, crisis or other life-changing events. Cancer is a globally occurring, life-threatening disease, and this review aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on the active information seeking behaviour of cancer patients specifically focussing on how active information seeking serves as a coping strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adheres to current guidelines for conducting systematic reviews and consequently, thorough literature searches were conducted in four databases: Medline, Embase, CINAHL and Scopus which resulted in 7,179 publications. Following a careful screening process, this systematic review identifies 14 studies on the use of information seeking to cope with cancer.

Findings

The included studies consist of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analysing the use of information seeking to cope with cancer. The included studies have focussed primarily on demographic factors, the impact of affect, information needs, sources and coping strategies.

Research limitations/implications

A number of research gaps within library and information science are identified. Bringing research in this field into information science could allow for a greater understanding of information literacy, the use of existing information and the process of information searching when using information seeking to cope with serious illness.

Originality/value

This systematic review focusses on how information seeking serves as a coping strategy for cancer patients and provides an overview of the recent literature.

Citation

Petersen, E., Jensen, J.G. and Frandsen, T.F. (2021), "Information seeking for coping with cancer: a systematic review", Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. 73 No. 6, pp. 885-903. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-01-2021-0004