Table 2.
Themes and subthemes related to the functionality of the information diary tool.
| Theme | Subtheme | Sample quotes |
|---|---|---|
| IDP functions as a health information diary | To retrieve and re-read health information |
Archive, you can archive it. It's good. For me, I think history is good… I have read something and I want to go back to it, but I can't remember where. So, if there is this thing pertaining to medical, and I have saved it there, I can go back to the history, and I can retrieve and look at it, and find where did I read it. (P7, 58-year-old) It is time-wasting if you need to search information online. If I can save it in this app, I don't have to waste time searching for the information. For example, I can search for health information online while waiting for my friends, and then I can read back the information during my break time. (P22, 58-year-old) |
| To compare recent and previous information | Sometimes I want to double confirm or compare with other information (P16, 32-year-old) | |
| Suggest categorizing information according to diseases or topics |
Yeah, for me, the source is not important, whether it's Google or YouTube, it's not important. The nature of the data, the description, whether it's your musculoskeletal system, or digestive system, which part…So if I categorize it according to my system, then easy for me to go in and use it. (P1, 61-year-old) I prefer the app to be categorized into topics, maybe as weight loss, cholesterol, and anemia. If there are such topics, it's easier for me to refer to. (P15, 41-year-old) |
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| Suggest retrieving information using keywords | I would love to go back to what I read something but I just can't remember. So maybe there is an area where I said I've read something about lingzhi so I just type lingzhi and the thing will come out where all the info that I have stored and I can just go in. (P7, 58-year-old) | |
| Supporting discussion of health information with doctors | Show and discuss with doctors about health information using IDP |
I can show the doctor, compare medical information from other countries, consult about exercise. Also, I can show and ask the doctor about medical treatment options and their credibility. If I use this app, I can show the doctor directly. If I still need to look for it online, the doctor has no time to wait. (P22, 58-year-old)
When I see my doctor, I can show him where I get my info from… I can click back ‘history', then show him that I get from here, I get from Google. (P12,64-year-old) |
| For healthcare providers to understand patients' health information-seeking | To me, it is very useful. As I said, useful for you all (healthcare providers), actually to learn about people, how we all come across this kind of message, and how we can forward it to somebody…So, I think if it is useful to y'all. (P6, 59-year-old) | |
| Feedback function about credible information | Suggest providing credible health information |
Maybe it would be good if we could be given suggestions on other articles, linked to that, that we could read up on maybe to get more knowledge or if you think that the article. (P5, 56-year-old) Okay, maybe there's a feedback. The IDP would tell me, Okay, when you have this health information submitted, and probably there'll be another health information which IDP may recommend us to look at it…And different websites give you different information. (P4, 67-year-old) |
| Suggest healthcare professionals verify the credibility of information |
It's good to send you information like this. And you as a medical practitioner, maybe you all can verify which is true, which is not so we need to have some feedback from that. So that will be great if there is a feedback. (P6, 59-year-old) If my doctor thinks this website can be trusted, maybe I will trust it as well… Maybe showing the results, five out of ten medical professionals who saw this website also trusted it. (P24, 34-year-old) |
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| Increasing the awareness of the need to appraise information | IDP reminds participants to appraise health information | Before this, I don't really care. I just read and I just trust everything, but when I use IDP because it is gonna differentiate the source of information. So when you read, it makes you think, to what extent should I trust this information. Compared to before, I just trust everything and I don't really check where this is coming from, who is writing it. I did check it now. (P18, 31-year-old) |
| Suggest providing guidance on how to determine the trustworthiness of information | Yes, I think if in the app it would give extra information. They can provide in the app, like what kind of information, from what source should be trusted 90% or 100% or which one that is, you should not really trust that much. You know, so that at least we have like a guideline on how much should we trust the information. (P18, 31-year-old) | |
| Views about comparing their results with others | Compare their information diary with others |
We might not be so savvy on this. Some people are really good. They know where to search… and it's stored there and you do have a comparison. Then I can see how come he/she can get this interesting (information) that I will go in and look at the info. (P8, 47-year-old) If I was interested in a certain topic, I see what other people are reading then I might also go and read that information. (P9, 56-year-old) |
| Compare the level of trust | It will help, let say, if I know this information, other people also trust, maybe it is quite trustable also. (P24, 34-year-old) |