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Purpose: Previous research has found that people’s trust in a source of information affects whether they will expose themselves to information from that source, pay attention to that source, and the likelihood that they will act on the information obtained from that source. This study tracked trends in levels of trust in different health information sources over time and investigated sociodemographic predictors of trust in these sources.

Methodology/Approach: Data were drawn from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of adults in the USA. Weighted percentages, means, and standard errors for trust in health information sources were computed using data from four iterations of the survey (2005, 2009, 2012, and 2013). Weighted multivariable logistic regression models were employed to investigate associations between sociodemographic variables and level of trust in health information sources using HINTS 2013 data.

Findings: Trend analyses revealed declining trust in “traditional” mass media channels, such as television and radio, for health information and consistently high trust in interpersonal sources, like physicians, over the past decade. Regression analyses showed that those with more education (ORs 2.93–4.59, p < 0.05) and higher incomes (ORs 1.65–2.09, p < 0.05) were more likely to trust the Internet for health information than those with less education and lower incomes. Non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to trust mass media channels in comparison to Non-Hispanic Whites (ORs 1.73–2.20, p < 0.05).

Implications: These findings can be used to inform the strategic selection of channels for disseminating health information to certain demographic groups.

The advent of new technologies and change of patients’ behavioral patterns have triggered the provision of medical services through social media. Although the intersection between social media and health has received considerable research attention, there is little research on how health institutions implement social media strategy; thus a roadmap is required to navigate these technological initiatives. So, the purpose of this paper is to overcome this challenge by developing the Health 2.0 maturity model in the healthcare field.

To obtain this aim, the mixed method was applied in this research. In the first step, qualitative research method was used. In this step, along with comprehensive literature review, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the healthcare professionals to find the practices and capabilities of Health 2.0. In the second step, the proposed key dimensions (KD) were assessed and prioritized based on the views of the healthcare professionals using the quantitative survey method. Finally, by considering the architecture of Health 2.0 maturity model, the KDs were assigned to maturity levels based on their priority of implementation using a focus group.

The proposed maturity model is composed of six KDs and five maturity levels based on the Capability Maturity Model Integration architecture. The KDs, as well as their implementation order and weights in the proposed maturity model are presented as a roadmap for applying Health 2.0 effectively.

Employing the Health 2.0 maturity model enables health institutions to assess the current social media capabilities and guide them to select appropriate strategies for progress. Due to the descriptive nature of the proposed model, it allows managers to conduct process-based assessments regarding health 2.0 implementation.

Health 2.0 has been a recurring theme on the agenda of healthcare institutions, but no sensitive tool is available to measure its growth processes. This paper explores the much ignored but critically important subject of Health 2.0 maturity model and its implementation roadmap. The main contribution of this paper is to introduce an integrated roadmap containing the most important capabilities of Health 2.0. The proposed model is both descriptive and prescriptive in nature, and has a significant theoretical contribution to healthcare studies. This paper provides a mechanism to benchmark Health 2.0 efforts and to develop a progressive strategy that would improve its activities.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to consider the use of the Internet as a potential facilitator of positive health-related perceptions. Specifically, we propose that online health information seeking fosters positive perceptions of health. Using path modeling, we theorized several mechanisms through which information seeking could be conducive to positive health perceptions, which we conceptualized into the following four dimensions: (1) sense of empowerment in managing health, (2) self-reported ability to take better care of health, (3) sense of improved health-related quality of life, and (4) self-reported improvement of health.

Methodology: Our sample consisted of respondents who have used the Internet as a resource for health information (n = 710), drawn from the largest national probability-based online research panel. Our comparison subsample consisted of older respondents (age ≥ 60; n = 194). We used Internet-specific measures and employed structural equation models (SEM) to estimate the direct, indirect, and total effects of health-related use of the Internet on subjective health perceptions. Based on our review of the literature, competent health communication with healthcare providers and sense of empowerment in managing personal health were modeled as mediator variables. We assessed whether the proposed mediational relationships, if significant, differed across our indicators of positive health perceptions and whether any differential associations were observed among older adults. We run parallel models for each indicator of positive health perception.

Findings: Provider-patient communication informed by the Internet resources were perceived to impart a greater sense of empowerment to manage health among our respondents, which in turn, was associated with perceived contributions to better self-reported ability to provide self-care, increased health-related quality of life, and improvement in self-reported health. The SEM results revealed a good fit with our full sample and subsample.

Research Implications: Conceptualization of the multidimensional aspects of online health information seeking with separate multi-indicator analyses of the outcome variable is important to further our understanding of how technology may impact the pathways involved in influencing health perceptions and as a result health outcomes.

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to examine the association between Internet use, skills, and health-related Internet activities, on the one hand, and perceived health outcomes of health-related Internet use, use of healthcare services, and self-rated health (SRH), on the other hand, the latter conceptualized as gains constituting the “third digital divide.” Secondarily, we seek to examine whether the above associations are maintained after accounting for demographic characteristics.

Methodology: A nationally representative random-digital-dial (RDD) telephone household survey of Israeli adult population (aged 21 and older, N = 819). The survey measured different dimensions of Internet use – frequency, experience, Web 1.0 general consumption and health-related activities, Web 2.0 production activities (general and health-related), and content evaluation. Potential health benefits included perceived outcomes of Internet use for health purposes, use of healthcare services and SRH.

Findings: In a multiple hierarchical regression model, adjusting for demographic variables, Internet use was associated with increased use of healthcare services and better perceived outcomes of Internet use for health purposes, but not with SRH.

Research Implications and Limitations: Health-related Internet use is associated with a sense of empowerment and enhanced use of healthcare services, but – after accounting for background variables – is not associated with SRH. Limitations include self-reports and a cross-sectional design, the latter precluding inference on causality.

Practical Implications: Internet use, specifically Web 1.0 consumption activities, is associated with increased use of healthcare services and is positively associated with perceived health outcomes. No such relationships were found for Web 2.0 activities. Future technological developments in services should take the digital divide into account and design products that will benefit disadvantaged groups.

Originality/Value: While rigorously assessing various dimensions of Internet use, the study distinguishes between various benefits of Internet use in the health domain, clarifying which benefits are associated with Internet use for health purposes.

This research aims to explore the factors that affect the adoption of Web 2.0 among knowledge workers. The research specifically investigated the role of factors related to both knowledge seeking and knowledge sharing, in the context of Web 2.0 use by health care professionals.

For this research, a cross-sectional survey design was adopted. The data were analyzed using the partial least square-structural equation modeling.

The results confirmed that the intention to adopt Web 2.0 depends upon both the knowledge-seeking and the knowledge-sharing attitudes. However, between the two, it is knowledge-sharing factors that are more important. Health care professionals tend to share knowledge driven by intrinsic motivators rather than by extrinsic motivators. On the other hand, knowledge-seeking attitude was determined by usefulness of knowledge and was not affected by the effort involved.

All the respondents were health care professionals from India, and convenience sampling was used to reach them. This may limit the generalizability of the findings.

This research provides useful insights on implementing Web 2.0-based knowledge management systems, specifically for health care professionals. Particularly, it emphasizes the need to focus on reinforcing intrinsic motivators like self-efficacy and the joy of sharing.

It is perhaps the first study that integrates the factors related to knowledge sharing and seeking in a single theoretical model, thereby presents and tests a more realistic model of knowledge management.

Empirical studies show that years of schooling are positively correlated with good health. The implication may go from education to health, from health to education, or from factors that influence both variables. We formalize a model that determines an individual’s demand for knowledge and health based on the causal effects, and study the impacts on the individual’s decisions of policy instruments such as subsidies on medical care, subsidizing schooling, income tax reduction, lump-sum transfers, and improving health at young age. Our results indicate that income redistribution policies may be the best instrument to improve welfare, while a medical care subsidy is the best instrument for longevity. Subsidies to medical care or education would require large imperfections in these markets to be more welfare improving than distributional policies.

Recent decades have witnessed a rising interest in the measurement of inequality from a multidimensional perspective. This literature has however remained largely theoretical. This chapter presents an empirical application of a recent methodology and in doing so offers practical insights on how multidimensional inequality can be measured over two attributes (wealth and health) in the developing country context. Following Abul Naga and Geoffard (2006), a methodological framework allowing the decomposition of multidimensional inequality into two univariate Atkinson–Kolm–Sen equality indices and a third term measuring the association between the attributes is implemented. The methodology is then illustrated using data from the World Health Surveys 2002–2003. Specifically, this study presents the first comparative analysis on multidimensional inequality for a set of Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. Results reveal that the multidimensional (in-)equality indices tend to mimic the (in-)equality ordering of the wealth distributions as the latter are always less equally distributed than health. An empirical conclusion that emerges is that reducing the correlation between the attributes may help to reduce overall welfare inequality, specifically when socioeconomic inequality in health is pro-poor. The finding that the correlation between attributes has a significant contribution in the quantification of inequality has important policy implications since it reveals that it is not only wealth and health inequalities per se that matter in the measurement of welfare inequality but also the associations between them.

Purpose: In this chapter, we develop a conceptual model, the relational anger model (RAM). The model aims to better understand the receivers' attributions and emotion regulation strategies used in the face of intense workplace anger. We also report a test of this model in a workplace setting. Study Design/Methodology/Approach: The data were collected through a survey using a split administration design conducted in various industries. The analysis used PROCESS based on data gathered from 122 employees. Findings: The results indicated that perceptions of greater anger intensity are associated with lower target positive health (e.g., lowered work functionality). When attributions of higher sender anger intensity are viewed as appropriate, targets experience better health outcomes. Targets' attribution of lower sender anger intensity appropriateness is also associated with targets' reporting higher negative health outcomes (e.g., lowered self-esteem). Support for the full moderated mediation model of the effects of the ER strategies is not found. However, separate paths within the model are significant as outlined in the analysis throughout this chapter. Originality/Value: Overall, the RAM increases our understanding of a receivers' internal cognitive and affective processes in the face of workplace anger manifestations in organizations. Research Limitations: There is a possibility of common method variance affecting the study results, but a split administration design was used to minimize this effect. The study may also be affected by memory of the anger incident, which we tried to overcome using the Day Reconstruction Method.

Adults in the United States have low health literacy skills which puts them at high risk for serious health consequences. Libraries have traditionally provided programming on a variety of topics for patrons but barriers such as technology and transportation access may prevent potential patrons from attending. Librarians can help increase the health literacy skills of community members by providing health outreach programming to the communities they serve. This chapter examines strategies and specific examples that library managers can implement to facilitate technology and health literacy skills through programming in communities.

Past research on self-employment and health yielded conflicting findings. Integrating predictions from the Stressor-Strain Outcome model, research on challenge stressors and allostatic load, we predict that physical and mental health are affected by self-employment in distinct ways which play out over different time horizons. We also test whether the health impacts of self-employment are due to enhanced stress (work-related strain) and differ for man and women.

We apply non-parametric propensity score matching in combination with a difference-in-difference approach and longitudinal cohort data to examine self-selection and the causal relationship between self-employment and health. We focus on those that transit into self-employment from paid employment (opportunity self-employment) and analyze strain and health over four years relative to individuals in paid employment.

Those with poorer mental health are more likely to self-select into self-employment. After entering self-employment, individuals experience a short-term uplift in mental health due to lower work-related strain, especially for self-employed men. In the longer-term (four years) the mental health of the self-employed drops back to pre-self-employment levels. We find no effect of self-employment on physical health.

Our research helps to understand the nonpecuniary benefits of self-employment and suggests that we should not advocate self-employment as a “healthy” career.

This article advances research on self-employment and health. Grounded in stress theories it offers new insights relating to self-selection, the temporality of effects, the mediating role of work-related strain, and gender that collectively help to explain why past research yielded conflicting findings.