Skip to main content
PMC home page
Bulletin of the Medical Library Association logoLink to Bulletin of the Medical Library Association
. 1997 Jan;85(1):16–22.

The impact of consumer health information provided by libraries: the Delaware experience.

V Pifalo 1, S Hollander 1, C L Henderson 1, P DeSalvo 1, G P Gill 1
PMCID: PMC226218  PMID: 9028567

Abstract

In the past two decades, consumer health libraries have proliferated in response to the changing health care environment and consumer demand. While this growth of consumer health resources and services has been extensively described in the literature, there is little documentation about the impact and value of providing consumer health information. This paper explores the issues of impact and value as examined in a retrospective study of consumers who received health information from the Delaware Academy of Medicine's Consumer Health Library during 1995. In this study, 270 adults were mailed a questionnaire that focused on whether the information influenced decisions, actions, anxiety levels, and patient-provider communication. The questionnaire also addressed the value of such library service in terms of likelihood of repeat use, recommendation to others, and willingness to pay. The results, based on a return rate of 86.7%, identified effects of library-supplied consumer health information that extend beyond the anticipated acquisition of knowledge to specific actions and effects on anxiety. The value of consumer health library information service was shown by the extremely high percentage of probable repeat use and recommendation to others, the willingness of 83.8% of the respondents to pay for such service, and the copious comments volunteered by the respondents.

Full text

PDF
22

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bolton V., Brittain M. Patient information provision: its effect on patient anxiety and the role of health information services and libraries. Health Libr Rev. 1994 Jun;11(2):117–132. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2532.1994.1120117.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Collings L. H., Pike L. C., Binder A. I., McClymont M. E., Knight S. T. Value of written health information in the general practice setting. Br J Gen Pract. 1991 Nov;41(352):466–467. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hafner A. W. A survey of patient access to hospital and medical school libraries. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1994 Jan;82(1):64–66. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. King D. N. The contribution of hospital library information services to clinical care: a study in eight hospitals. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1987 Oct;75(4):291–301. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Marcus S. H., Tuchfeld B. S. Sharing information, sharing responsibility: helping health care consumers make informed decisions. Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care. 1993:3–7. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Marshall J. G., Neufeld V. R. A randomized trial of librarian educational participation in clinical settings. J Med Educ. 1981 May;56(5):409–416. doi: 10.1097/00001888-198105000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Marshall J. G. The impact of the hospital library on clinical decision making: the Rochester study. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1992 Apr;80(2):169–178. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Varnavides C. K., Zermansky A. G., Pace C. Health library for patients in general practice. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1984 Feb 18;288(6416):535–537. doi: 10.1136/bmj.288.6416.535. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Bulletin of the Medical Library Association are provided here courtesy of Medical Library Association

RESOURCES