The Role of Need for Closure in Health Information Seeking among Cancer Patients and Their Families

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Maryam Torkaman 1
Mahdieh Mirzabeigi 2
1 Ph.D. Student, Knowledge and Information Science, Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Knowledge and Information Science, Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
10.48305/him.2025.43268.1244
Abstract
Introduction: The study of health information seeking behavior is valuable. Based on this, the aim of the present study was to understand the role of the need for closure in the health information seeking of cancer patients.

Methods: The current research was a quantitative research in terms of the nature of the data, a fundamental research in terms of the purpose of the research, and a descriptive-correlation research in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the research was students from Shiraz University who themselves or their families had a history of cancer. Based on the purpose of the research, the targeted sampling approach and the snowball or chain sampling method used. The sample size was 212 people using J*Power software. The data collection tool was the questionnaire of Nellisen et al. (2015) and the questionnaire designed by Webster and Kruglanski (1994) and edited and summarized by Roots and Hill (2011). The collected data analyzed through Pearson’s correlation and simple regression tests using SPSS software version 23 analyzed.

Results: The research findings showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the need for closure and health information seeking; In addition, the results of the simple regression test showed that the need for closure was a positive and significant predictor of health information seeking.

Conclusion: It is suggested to pay attention to the role of the need for closure in the health information seeking, and actions such as holding health information literacy training courses should also be planned.

Keywords

Subjects

  1. 1.Dastani M, Mokhtarzadeh M, Nasirzadeh AR, Delshad A. Health information seeking behavior among students of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences. Libr Philos Pract. 2019 .

    1. Onawe C, Okocha F. Health information seeking behaviour of university students in Nigeria. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 2019 May 1. .
    2. Aghajani Afrouzi A, Mousavi Chelak A, Riahi A. Investigation of health information behavior among the employees of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran during 2020. Hakim. 2020;23(4):449–62. [In Persian]
    3. Cao W, Zhang X, Xu K, Wang Y. Modeling online health information-seeking behavior in China: the roles of source characteristics, reward assessment, and internet self-efficacy. Health Commun. 2016 Sep;31(9):1105–14 .
    4. Kalankesh LR, Mohammadian E, Ghalandari M, Delpasand A, Aghayari H. Health information seeking behavior among university students.Front Health Inform. 2019 Jul;8(1):13.
    5. Freytag A, Baumann E, Angermeyer M, Schomerus G. Self- and surrogate-seeking of information about mental health and illness in Germany. BMC Public Health. 2023 Jan;23(1):65.
    6. Mortazavi F, Bagherzadeh R, Hamidi AL. Determining the level of self-efficiency in searching for health information and its relationship with health information-seeking behavior of mothers of children under two years old referring to health centers in Bushehr. Nurs Midwifery J.

    2022;19(11):857–66. [In Persian]

    1. So J, Kuang K, Cho H. Information seeking upon exposure to risk messages: predictors, outcomes, and mediating roles of health information seeking. Commun Res. 2019 Jul;46(5):663–87 .
    2. Jiao W, Chang A, Ho M, Lu Q, Liu MT, Schulz PJ. Predicting and empowering health for Generation Z by comparing health information seeking and digital health literacy: cross-sectional questionnaire study. J Med Internet Res. 2023 Oct;25:e47595 .

    10 . Lambert SD, Loiselle CG. Health information–seeking behavior. Qual Health Res. 2007 Oct;17(8):1006–19.

    11 . Zimmerman MS, Shaw G Jr. Health information seeking behaviour: a concept analysis. Health Info Libr J. 2020 Sep;37(3):173–91.

    12 . Amirudin N, Aimanan SN, Kassim R, Panting AJ. The importance of health information seeking among diabetes patients in Malaysia: a preliminary observation. Malays J Soc Sci Humanit. 2021 Dec;6(12):205–12.

    13 . Xu Y, Wang M, Bao L, Cheng Z, Li X. A cross-sectional study based on the comprehensive model of information seeking: which factors influence health information-seeking behavior in patients with periodontitis. BMC Oral Health. 2024 Oct;24(1):1307 .

    14 . Guo J, Zhu J, Huang L, Li W, Ye M. Experiences of health information-seeking behaviour in preoperative patients with lung cancer: a qualitative study in China. BMJ open. 2025 Feb 1;15(2):e090540.

    15 . Barahmand N, Nakhoda M, Fahiminia F, Nazari M. Use of episodic interview in health information seeking studies. Hum Inf Interact. 2017;4(1):80–91.[In Persian]

    16 . Talebian A, Borhani F, Okhovati M. A grounded theory study on health information seeking behavior of Iranian diabetic patients. J Kerman Univ Med Sci. 2021 Jan;28(1):10–20.

    17 . Longanga Diese E, Baker E, Akpan I, Acharya R, Raines-Milenkov A, Felini M, et al. Health information-seeking behavior among Congolese refugees. PLoS One. 2022 Sep;17(9):e0273650 .

    18 . Ou M, Ho SS. A meta-analysis of factors related to health information seeking: an integration from six theoretical frameworks. Commun Res. 2022 Jun;49(4):567–93 .

    19 . Fortier A. Influence of need for cognition and need for cognitive closure on information behaviour. Proc Annu Conf CAIS. 2012 .

    20 . Paliwal D. Investigating the Gender Effects on The Five Facets of The Need for Closure. International Journal of Indian Psychȯlogy. 2021;9(1).

    21 . Webster DM, Kruglanski AW. Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994 Dec;67(6):1049 .

    22 . Roets A, Kruglanski AW, Kossowska M, Pierro A, Hong YY. The motivated gatekeeper of our minds: new directions in need for closure theory and research. In: Adv Exp Soc Psychol. 2015;52:221–83 .

    23 . Lu Q, Chang A, Yu G, Yang Y, Schulz PJ. Social capital and health information seeking in China. BMC Public Health. 2022 Aug 10;22(1):1525. .

    24 . Malik A, Islam T, Ahmad M, Mahmood K. Health information seeking and sharing behavior of young adults on social media in Pakistan. J Librariansh Inf Sci. 2023 Sep;55(3):579–95 .

    25 . Kamyar S, Kazerani M, Shekofteh M, Jambarsang S. Health information seeking behaviour in academic population and its relationship with carcinophobia. Int J Inf Sci Manag. 2023 Jan;21(1):277–90 .

    26 . Petersen E, Jensen JG, Frandsen TF. Information seeking for coping with cancer: a systematic review. Aslib Journal of Information Management. 2021 Oct 13;73(6):885-903.

    27 . Okhovati M, Sharifpoor E, Hamzehzadeh M, Shahsavari M, Soltan Shahi M. The role of public libraries on Kerman health information seeking behavior. Health Biomed Inform. 2016;3(1):48–56. [In Persian].

    28 . Otroj Z, Zare-Farashbandi F, Rastegari F. Relationship between personality types in health information seeking behavior of graduate students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences based on Miller model. Payavard. 2022;16(2):123–31. [In Persian]

    1. Chua GP, Ng QS, Tan HK, Ong WS. Cancer survivors: what are their information seeking behaviours?. J Cancer Educ. 2021 Dec;36:1237–47.

    30 . Chang CC, Huang MH. Antecedents predicting health information seeking: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Inf Manag. 2020 Oct;54:102115 .

    31 . Schmidt H, Wild EM, Schreyögg J. Explaining variation in health information seeking behaviour–Insights from a multilingual survey. Health Policy.2021 May;125(5):618–26 .

    32 . Rahimi A, Alaei S, Keshvari M, Tarrahi MJ, Karbasi M. Examining the relationship between individual characteristics and health informationseeking behavior in the elderly in disease control. Health Inf Manag. 2022;19(3):139–46. [In Persian]

    33 . Nelissen S, Beullens K, Lemal M, Van den Bulck J. Fear of cancer is associated with cancer information seeking, scanning and avoiding: a cross‐ sectional study among cancer diagnosed and non‐diagnosed individuals. Health Info Libr J. 2015 Jun;32(2):107–19 .

    1. Roets A, Van Hiel A. Item selection and validation of a brief, 15-item version of the Need for Closure Scale. Pers Individ Dif. 2011 Jan;50(1):90–4 .

    35 . Kruglanski AW, Webster DM. Motivated closing of the mind:"Seizing" and" freezing". Psychological review. 1996 Apr; 103(2): 263 .

    36 . Vermeir I, Van Kenhove P, Hendrickx H. The influence of need for closure on consumer’s choice behaviour. J Econ Psychol. 2002 Dec;23(6):703–27 .

    37 . Kruglanski AW, Peri N, Zakai D. Interactive effects of need for closure and initial confidence on social information seeking. Soc Cogn. 1991 Jun;9(2):127–48 .

    38 . Sachdeva R. Pandemic, perceived risk, and cognitive dissonance as antecedents to need for cognitive closure. Int J Serv Sci Manag Eng Technol. 2022 Jan;13(1):1–20 .

    39 . Rutten RL, Hülsheger UR, Zijlstra FR. Does looking forward set you back? Development and validation of the work prospection scale. Eur J Work Organ Psychol. 2022 Nov;31(6):922–39 .

    40 . Wu Q, Zhou J. Need for cognitive closure, information acquisition and adoption of green prevention and control technology. Ecol Chem Eng S. 2021 Mar;28(1):129–43 .

    41 . Ortega-Martín JL, Portnova T, Zurita-Ortega F, Ubago-Jiménez JL. Correlation between the need for cognitive closure and narrative creativity in secondary education. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr;18(8):1–12 .

    1. Choi JA, Koo M, Choi I, Auh S. Need for cognitive closure and information search strategy. Psychol Mark. 2008 Nov;25(11):1027–42