patient’s contextual factors can affect their health information seeking behaviors proper health information seeking behavior can lead to diseases prevention and its improvement. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of contextual factors on the health information seeking behavior of diabetic patients in Isfahan.
A survey method was used in this research. The statistical population consisted of 6426 diabetic patients of which 362 patients were selected by a no percentage stratified random sampling. Longo’s information seeking behavior questionnaire was used to collect data and SPSS 20 software were used for analyzing gathered data.
Pearson correlation index showed that by controlling age variable there was a direct relation between longevity of diagnosis and some information seeking factors (p0). One-way ANOVA test showed that the average score of some factors of diabetic patient’s information-seeking behavior during pregnancy are significantly higher than pre- diabetes and diabetes (p Some contextual factors such as longevity of diagnosis, type of the diabetes and family history of diabetes affect on the health information seeking behaviors of diabetic patients. Because of the importance of pre-diabetic patient’s and pregnant diabetic women’s health some arrangements should be set by health authorities in order to better transfer of health information to mentioned diabetic patients. By investigating factors that affect health information seeking behavior of patients with chronic disease their needed information could be transferred to them more effectively and it also can improve patient’s self- care and prevent disease complication.

Due to recent attention to health promotion and self-care as one of the prerequisites of health services and intervention programs, health information seeking behavior research has gain increasing importance. Factors such as attention to user centered studies, context and self-care require using of methods and tools that help study people in their natural environment. However, review studies have shown the dominance of quantitative and positivist approaches in health information seeking behavior studies. This study aims at introducing episodic interview as a tool for gathering unique data from peoples’ natural lives and its application in health information seeking studies.
This review article has been conducted by library method. It addresses health information seeking behavior concept and its affecting factors. It also introduces episodic interview and its underlying concepts including narration and narrative interviewing. Further, it investigates implications of applying episodic interview in health information behavior studies and eventually it discusses steps of conducting episodic interview with examples of narrations.
Findings: The strength point of episodic interview is its focus on narration of people about their lived experiences as research data which help researchers study and analyze people in a different way from conventional approaches. Implications of applying episodic interview are: 1.concentration of health information behavior studies on pattern of behavior, 2. health information seeking behavior being interwoven in everyday life, and 3. health information seeking behavior being intentional and purposeful.
Episodic interview help researchers listen to the voices of different groups of people, especially whom their voice is not heard due to sickness and social and cultural conditions, a point which should be considered in designing any information and intervention services.

Objective (s): Health information seeking behavior describes how the individual search for and obtain health and medical information about health risks, diseases and illnesses, and health promotion activities. Understanding the patient's information seeking behavior can provide the medical and information specialists useful evidence in improving the patient's health. A sample of 362 diabetic patients in Isfahan, Iran was studied. The SPSS version 20, descriptive and analytic statistics are applied in analysis of this work. The Lngo’s health information seeking behavior questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive analysis was performed to explore the data. The findings indicatedthat most usable information sources by diabetic patients were physicians (3.12%), television (2.43%), family members (2.32%), news (2.01%), other health care providers (1.38%) and radio (1.19%). Help lines was not indicated as a source of information at all. Differences between passive information seeking (41.68) and active information seeking (39.20) considered statistically significant (p < 0.001). Passive transition of health information on diabetes through most usable information sources seems to be the best way of making these patients alert.

The main purpose of the current research was to investigate the historical roots of health information seeking behavior filed using the new approach of reference publication year’s spectroscopy in the Scopus database from the beginning to the end of year 2021. The current research was conducted using citation analysis and the spectroscopic approach of publication year of sources (RPYS). The sampling method in the present study was census and 1414 documents were extracted from Scopus database in health information seeking behavior area. Data analysis was done using CRExplorer software program 7 book titles and 21 articles were the most co-cited, which shows the influence of articles in the formation of the historical roots of health information seeking behavior filed. This area was influenced by books in the fields of communication and psychology. But little by little, signs of works related to library and information science, health literacy, and research methodology were also observed in co-cited references. It can be predicted that the field of health information seeking behavior will take more influence from the field of health and its related theories in the coming years with the increase of publications, thus establishing its position as an emerging field and Regardless of the field of information-seeking behavior, it will gain more than before.

Health information-seeking behavior is how to search, find and use disease-related information, information about health-threatening factors and activities related to health promotion. One of the issues affecting people's quality of life is chronic diseases, of which cancer can be mentioned. Cancer incidence is rising over the last years . It cannot be stated for sure that the Fear and concern about cancer which is named carcinophobia,  always cause a lack of follow-up and avoidance of people seeking cancer information; however, considering different time intervals and in different cultures, the same Fear and concern as the stimulus, stimulates or forces the people to track and seek cancer information.The purpose of this analytical survey was clarifying the situation of Health information-seeking behaviour among university students both undergraduate and postgraduate as academic population during cancer outbreak. Also our aim is to  determine the relationship between carcinophobia and information-seeking behavior in this population. Research findings while clarifying the situation of Health information seeking behavior in the academic population, can indicate that carcionphobia causes more information search or is a barrier to information search. The samples of this analytical survey include 243  college students who were selected by cluster-class methodology. The research tool was derived from the Cancer Information Questionnaire Levin (L_CIS). Pearson correlation test was used for the relationship between variables. The results showed that the average total score of students' fears of the disease was 27.20, which was high and the main motive for the search for cancer health information was the protection of personal hygiene(56.4%). " Knowing how to treat cancer (54.7%) and the awareness of new trends in medicine (44.5%) were in the second and third rankings of the purpose and motivation of the search for information. Three components including "Lack of effective communication with Treatment staff  (such as physicians or nurses), "Lack of mastery in searching or finding of health information resources" and "Lack of mastery in the use of print or online health information resources" in average were the most important problems and barriers to obtaining the required information resulting from Fear of cancer. With increasing Fear of cancer, people's willingness to search for information through friends and watching TV shows increased, but the severe, and morbid Fear of cancer reduced the desire of individuals to seek health information.

In studies of special groups’ information seeking behavior، there is not a complete understanding of pregnant women''s information seeking process. The purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of health information seeking behavior of the pregnant women. This is an applied qualitative method using Grounded Theory approach. Data were collected through semi- structured interviews with 15 pregnant women who were selected from 5 women''s hospitals in Tehran. Data was analyzed using three stages of: Open; axial; and selective coding- used in Grounded theory approach- and a model of pregnant women’s health information seeking behavior was extracted. five conceptual categories: information seeking motives، barriers، information seeking، information evaluation، and information sharing were the results of three stages of coding، expanded around the main idea of “pregnant women’s health information seeking behavior” to establish a model for this process. Based on the findings، pregnant women''s most essential information needs were psychological needs، nutrition، health of mother and fetus، and the ways of childbirth. The most important information seeking barriers were lack of time for searching information، lack of ability in information evaluation، and the high level of difficulty of the books. Physicians were the first and the most important reference in information acquisition and important criteria for information evaluation. Findings reveal the importance of information acquisition in pregnant women، effective intervention of information professionals in meeting information needs، removal of information seeking barriers، facilitating information seeking process and more attention to information centers seems necessary. Also، results could be applicable to various organizations for women’s health.

Improving information retrieval skills and promoting maternal health literacy of pregnant women leads to their ability to access, understand, and use health information. It leads to maintaining and promoting the health of of pregnant women. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between health literacy and the health information-seeking behavior of pregnant women referring to health centers in Bushehr. This is applied research that is carried out in a survey method. The statistical population of this study is 271 pregnant women referring to health centers in Bushehr who were selected by stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using health information behavior and health literacy questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS software version 24. Findings showed that 25% of women had good health information-seeking behavior. Also, 51% of pregnant women had inadequate health literacy, 25% had border health literacy, and 24% had adequate health literacy. The findings also confirmed a significant relationship between health information-seeking behavior and health literacy (P = 0.011). As the low and unfavorable health literacy among the pregnant women in Bushehr municipality, health policymakers should pay more attention to improving such a situation. If we accept that the poor information-seeking behavior alongside the low health literacy causes the wrong health information, then it can be advised that the health information-seeking skills education becomes a part of the policymakers' planning. Furthermore, they have to provide proper educational materials with an understandable language to enable pregnant women.

Since Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB) is a psychological phenomenon like every other human behavior, it seems that personal characteristics of patients affect this behavior. On the other hand, appropriate health information seeking behavior can fasten disease healing presses or their prevention. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of personal factors HISB of diabetic patients in Isfahan. A survey method was used in this research. The statistical population consisted of 6426 diabetic patients from whom 362 patients were selected by a no percentage stratified random sampling. The Longo information seeking behavior questionnaire was used to collect data and SPSS 20 were used for analyzing collected data. Independent T- test showed that there was a statistically significant difference between behavior factor in information seeking process of men and women (p< 0.001). Moreover, Spearman correlation index showed that HISB factors were directly related to educational level. This test also showed that there was a direct relationship between income and some information seeking factors. Pearson correlation index showed that there was an inverse relationship between age and most information seeking factors. Passive methods should be used in transferring health information to diabetic men, and more time and energy should be consumed in transferring information to old diabetic patients with low income and low educational level. Hence, by studying factors influencing health information seeking behaviors of diabetic patients, their required information can be transferred to them more efficiently leading to prevention of diabetes.

Health clients when seeking health information are faced with challenges such as complexity of the health system, increase in prevalence of chronic diseases, need to participate in the health care, and increase in the available information from different and various sources. Disregarding the importance of health information-seeking behavior and the effectiveness of library services in this field, a few studies have been performed on health information-seeking behavior in developing countries like Iran.
The present survey was performed on 373 members of the public libraries in Kerman. The sample size were determined based on the Morgan table. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and standard deviation), chi-square test, and SPSS 19.
The results show that among 373 participants, 1.33% believed that library has no significant role in access to health information, and 8.9% believed that the library plays a key role in this area. In this study, a significant relationship between the age, sex, marital status, educational level and occupation of individuals, and the diagnosis of disease was reported. In addition, a significant relationship between the role of library in access to health information and age was also reported.
Investigation of individuals’ health information-seeking behavior can be used as an effective tools to help planners and administrators. Although Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been remarkably grown and internet plays significant role compared to the other channels that help people to access to health information but the book is still regarded as an important and common resource to access the information.

Teaching health information seeking skills to pregnant women can improve their health knowledge, self-care ability, and preventive behaviors. This study aims to survey the health information seeking behaviors of pregnant women referred to health centers in Bushehr, Iran. 

This descriptive-analytical study with cross-sectional design was conducted in 2020 on 306 pregnant women referred to health centers in Bushehr, Iran who were selected using stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using a Health Information seeking Behavior Questionnaire and analyzed in SPSS v. 24 software using Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test.

The findings showed that 25% of pregnant women had favorable health information seeking behavior, and 75% had unfavorable information seeking behavior. There was a significant relationship between the educational level of pregnant women and their health information seeking behaviors (P=0.04). The rate of unfavorable information seeking behavior in women with no history of abortion was 72.1%; in women with a history of abortion, it was 77%; and in women with a history of more than one abortion was 93.3% (P=0.039).

The most of pregnant women in Bushehr has unfavorable health information seeking behaviors. Since inappropriate information-seeking behavior leads to incorrect information or lack of access to information, it is recommended to teach information seeking skills and consequently empower pregnant women to seek health information.