Under the current circumstances of the healthcare
environment, it is essential to build patients’ selfempowerment
to seek out health information and induce
patients to make informed decisions. Beyond simply
increasing our knowledge on health information channels
from now on, it is also necessary to look into what kinds
of health information patients and their families search
for and how this varies depending on SES and race.
Additionally, it is also essential to look closely into the
channels that are used by people of different SES to obtain
health information, how people understand and make
use of the health information, and finally, what health
information is not acquired. In this respect, studies on
HISB can bring us more effective health promotion and
community-based interventions.
In conclusion, we took a brief look at social and
individual determinants and results of HISBs in this
study. At a time when epidemiological studies shift their
focus to chronic diseases and active medical consumers
come to the forefront, HISB is now gathering more
momentum than ever before. Post-treatment cancer
patients anticipate making more informed decisions
about their medical treatment, and this trend is expected
intensify as various types of treatment options become
available through developments in biomedical science.
Such medical developments occur concurrently with
communication innovations that provide voluminous
information through diverse information delivery
platforms. Of the numerous types of healthcare needs,
health information is the most basic (Duggan and Bates,
2008; Mayer et al., 2007). Therefore, it is very crucial to
have an in-depth understanding of factors behind HISBs
by post-treatment cancer patients, thereby enabling both
patients and their families to gain a better capacity for
health communication.