Health Information Needs in Visual Materials: Recommendations for Enhancing Visual Material Users’ Search Experiences

Cho, Hyerim; Pham, Minh; Urban, Alex

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/109705 Copy

Description

Title

Health Information Needs in Visual Materials: Recommendations for Enhancing Visual Material Users’ Search Experiences

Author(s)

• Cho, Hyerim
• Pham, Minh
• Urban, Alex

Issue Date

2021-03-17

Keyword(s)

• Visual materials
• Recommendation systems
• Health information
• Information needs and seeking behavior
• Qualitative methods

Abstract

Medical research commonly utilizes visual-aided materials to study their positive effects on patients’ treatments. However, researchers know little about how individuals use visual materials (e.g., comic books, graphic novels, anime, and video games) as coping strategies for health problems in their everyday lives. This exploratory study uses participant diaries and interviews to identify the health information needs of visual material users and provide design recommendations for visual material search systems. Participants employed different types of visual materials to de-stress, relieve physical fatigue, raise moods, and manage pain. Findings show that platforms (e.g., hand-held devices) and moods were important features of visual materials for participants. Based on the findings, we recommend search features that enable users to search for cross-media materials and different types of moods. This study contributes to the subject of accessing visual materials with a newly identified lens—everyday health concerns.

Publisher

iSchools

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109705

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 is held by Hyerim Cho, Minh Pham, and Alex Urban. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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